Michael D Higgins (Galway West, Labour)
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Question 51: To ask the Minister for Health and Children if she has plans to introduce legislation to ban female genital mutilation here; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [22153/08]

Mary Harney (Dublin Mid West, Progressive Democrats)
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Legal advice which I obtained in 2004 strongly indicated that Female Genital Mutilation would constitute an offence under the Non-Fatal Offences Against the Person Act 1997.

In September 2006, the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) in its concluding observations on Ireland's second periodic report urged Ireland to continue its efforts to end the practice of Female Genital Mutilation through, inter alia, prohibiting it by law. I am currently examining the possibility of introducing specific legislation to ban Female Genital Mutilation in the context of UNCRC's recommendations.