Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

It is certainly a goal of the Minister of State, Deputy Rabbitte, and mine that we would see ratification of the optional protocol. Ireland has a legal position that it does not sign up to conventions where it feels its domestic law is not ready to comply with them yet. One of the big blockages to ratifying the optional protocol is that wardship was still in place. As Deputy Kenny knows, we recently passed the Assisted Decision-Making (Capacity) (Amendment) Act 2022, and we will be taking steps to remove wardship and establish the DSS in the very near future. The Attorney General is currently looking at whether there are any other legislative issues that need to be addressed prior to ratification. I look forward to getting that report from the Attorney General soon. It is the goal of the Minister of State, Deputy Rabbitte, and my goal to see the optional protocol ratified but I cannot give the Deputy a clear timeline today.

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