Ivana Bacik (Dublin Bay South, Labour) | Oireachtas source

In my role as Chairman of the Oireachtas Committee on Gender Equality, which has been charged with the implementation of the 45 recommendations of the Citizens' Assembly on Gender Equality, my colleagues and I are getting under way to commence public hearings at the committee. We are conscious of the timeframe we have been given by the Houses of the Oireachtas of nine months from the start of public hearings and conscious that there has been some highlighting of the role of citizens' assemblies and the need to take their output seriously. Can the Taoiseach give us an assurance, in advance of our public commencement of deliberations, that the Government will engage very seriously with the report of our special committee and, in particular, that he will commit to introducing legislation, where necessary, to implement those recommendations? We want to ensure the Government will engage seriously with the committee as we go through our deliberations. In particular, a commitment was given by the Minister for Justice to bring forward legislation to establish a new statutory agency on gender-based violence.

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