Anne Ferris (Wicklow, Labour)
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To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs when he expects the Optional Protocol to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child on the Sale of Children, Child Prostitution and Child Pornography to be ratified; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [39555/12]

Frances Fitzgerald (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael)
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It is my stated intention to ratify the Second Optional Protocol to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child on the sale of Children, Child Prostitution and Child Pornography in due course following full consideration of the content of the Protocol with my colleague Minister for Justice and Equality, Alan Shatter. I recently discussed the issue of ratification of this Protocol in a meeting with UN Special Representative on Violence Against Children which took place in my Department on 11th June last, during the Special Representative's official visit to Ireland. We agreed that the matter would be prioritised following the Children's Referendum, submission of the State's next report to the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child and the setting up of the new Child and Family Support Agency. The latter will also facilitate ratification of the Protocol which, as you will be aware, can only take place when the Government is satisfied that it able to meet all its obligations under the Protocol.

Many of the criminal law provisions of the Optional Protocol to the Convention have already been implemented in existing domestic legislation. Legislative proposals that the Minister for Justice and Equality intends to bring to Government in the coming months will, I understand, facilitate compliance with the criminal law requirements of the Optional Protocol and other international related legal instruments. It is also proposed to put in place the necessary administrative procedures and arrangements to allow for accession and, subject to the advice of the Attorney General’s Office, it is proposed to ratify the Optional Protocol and related international legal instruments as soon as is practicable. It would be my intention in due course to bring a Joint memo to Government with Minister Shatter to enable Ireland to ratify the second Optional Protocol.