Jim O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay South, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

This week we launched our campaign to have Ireland elected as a member of the Security Council a number of years from now. I very much support that campaign. For the purposes of the campaign, we have gone about informing our colleagues in the international community that Ireland is a country that complies with the highest standards of human rights and general international standards as set down by United Nations conventions. It is absolutely essential that we ratify the optional protocol that was signed in 2007. It is welcome that the Minister has indicated that that will be done, but urgency needs to be brought to the matter. The optional protocol was signed by Ireland as far back as 2007 and no real explanation has been provided for why it has not yet been ratified. The Minister is correct. What needs to be established in statute is a national preventive mechanism. We are in a situation where very many people are detained in this country. They can be detained in police stations, care institutions and elsewhere. We need a mechanism in place to provide protection for them.

See this speech in context