Neasa Hourigan (Dublin Central, Green Party)
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160. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade his plans to review the national plan on business and human rights; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [3156/21]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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The National Plan on Business and Human Rights was published in November 2017. The Plan contains a range of commitments under the UN’s ‘Protect, Respect and Remedy’ framework under the Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, as well as commitments to provide for greater policy coherence.

Following publication of the Plan, implementation initially focused on commitments in the area of policy coherence. In January 2019, a multi-stakeholder implementation group with members drawn from Government, business and civil society, was established and given a three year mandate to oversee implementation of the commitments grouped under the Protect, Respect, Remedy pillars within the National Plan. Accordingly, the Implementation Group is now two years into a three year mandate.

The terms of reference of the Implementation Group require the Implementation Group to review and update its work plan midway through its term and present its proposals to the Business and Human Rights Forum as a basis for discussions.

My Department is currently working with the Implementation Group to advance this requirement. In the coming months, a review of the work plan to implement the National Plan to date along with proposals for the completion of any outstanding commitments will be agreed by the Implementation Group in advance of a multi-stakeholder forum on business and human rights.

In the meantime, my Department is continuing to work with the Implementation Group to advance implementation of the National Plan. In this regard, I anticipate the completion of a Business and Human Rights toolkit for companies in the coming weeks to assist companies in meeting their responsibilities under the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights. I would be happy to share further detail of this initiative with the Deputy in due course.