Denis Naughten (Roscommon-Galway, Independent) | Oireachtas source

We need to send out a clear message that Ireland will not tolerate female genital mutilation under any circumstance, either in this jurisdiction or outside it. The most powerful step the Minister can take is to lead on this issue by bringing her other two Cabinet colleagues together and to sit down around a table and committing as three Ministers that they will drive the agenda forward on this. Nothing concentrates the minds of public servants more than the Ministers themselves being committed to an issue. I ask the Minister to do that to ensure a strategy is put in place that works with women, men, girls and boys from the communities where FGM is part of their tradition to raise awareness and empower them to reject this practice. I ask the Minister to do so across all of the agencies that work with those communities, such as An Garda Síochána, the health services and the integration agencies because it is only with a co-ordinated strategy that we can eradicate this practice.

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