Ruth Coppinger (Dublin West, Socialist Party)
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121. To ask the Minister for Justice and Equality given the signing of the Istanbul convention, if she will publish a timeframe for ratification of the convention; and her plans to implement the measures contained in it. [39797/15]

Frances Fitzgerald (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael)
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The signing of Istanbul Convention is an important milestone in the fight against domestic violence and violence against women. The Deputy will be aware that the Convention has a very broad scope across a number of policy areas with policy and legislative implications. The provisions of the Convention and the legislative and administrative arrangements that would enable Ireland to ratify the Convention have been identified following consultations with Government Departments and agencies. Last month I received Government approval to an action plan which, when implemented, will enable Ireland to ratify the Convention. This 18 point plan is published on the website of the Department of Justice and Equality and each action has a time frame. I also intend to include those actions in the new National Strategy on Domestic, Sexual and Gender-based Violence. I expect to publish the Strategy, which will cover a multi-year period from 2015, before the end of the year.

A range of legislative reforms will implement elements of the Istanbul Convention. These include the recently published Sexual Offences Bill, the Domestic Violence Bill, the Victims of Crime Bill, the Court of Appeal Act, 2015 and the Children and Family Relationships Act, 2015.