Written answers

Tuesday, 31 May 2016

Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade

International Agreements

Photo of Jonathan O'BrienJonathan O'Brien (Cork North Central, Sinn Fein)
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524. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade if he will ratify the Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. [12932/16]

Photo of Charles FlanaganCharles Flanagan (Laois, Fine Gael)
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The UN Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights opened for signature by UN Member States in New York in September 2009. To date, forty five States have signed the Optional Protocol, including eleven of the twenty eight European Union Member States. Twenty one States have ratified the Optional Protocol, including eight European Union Member States. The Optional Protocol came into force on 5 May 2013, three months after the deposit with the United Nations Secretary General of the tenth instrument of ratification or accession.

Ireland’s signature of the Optional Protocol on 23 March 2012 reaffirmed our commitment to the promotion and protection of economic, social and cultural rights.

Ratification of the Optional Protocol is a separate step and something which we consider should only be done after wide-ranging examination of all the issues, screening of obligations to be assured under the Optional Protocol, extensive consultation with all relevant Government Departments and consideration by the Government in due course.

This process is necessary in order to lay out clearly the necessary steps to be taken to facilitate ratification and to ensure, once ratified, that the State can comply with its international obligations.

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