Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)

As Deputy Mac Lochlainn said, there has been a considerable consultation process regarding the national action plan and considerable resources have been devoted to the process within the Department of Foreign Affairs and other Departments.

In 2009, some €485,000 from the Department's stability fund funded a cross-learning initiative and consultation with women affected by conflict. This is in addition to funding of €220,000 allocated to support international organisations, including UNIFAM, for their work on global indicators. These resources were made available in addition to the considerable human and financial resources already devoted to resolution-related activities across Government. The final figure for expenditure on activities related to UNSCR 1325 for 2010 is €412,000 approximately.

A process has been underway since the draft was submitted on 18 February 2011. Following the appointment of the new Government on 9 March 2011, which post-dated International Women's Day on 8 March, the conflict resolution unit of my Department carried out a thorough examination of the document prior to internal circulation on 23 March 2011. Following receipt of observations, the revised draft was circulated to other Departments with a request for observations by 15 April 2011. As I stated earlier, my officials are currently collating the observations received and I intend to submit the final version of the national action plan for approval by the Government in the near future.

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