Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein)
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87. To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment when the stakeholder consultation of his Department on the International Labour Organisation Convention 190, Elimination of Violence and Harassment in the World of Work is due to commence. [9042/22]

Damien English (Meath West, Fine Gael)
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Ratification of ILO Convention C190, Elimination of Violence and Harassment in the World of Work, a matter of priority for Ireland, is being considered in the context of our standard approach to the ratification of international instruments. Ireland does not ratify international conventions until it has been determined that national law is in line with the provisions of the international instrument.

Convention 190 is the first ever international instrument on the very important issues of eliminating violence and harassment in the world of work. Ireland already has very strong protections in law to combat violence and harassment in the world of work and has ratified the Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence - that is, the Istanbul Convention.

Officials in the Department of Enterprise, Trade & Employment have engaged with all relevant Government Departments and offices to establish the extent to which domestic legislative provisions already provide for the rights and entitlements included in the Convention, as well as legislative amendments, if any, that may be required to enable ratification.

The Department is conducting an analysis of the outcomes and engaging with legal advisers to ensure that there are no gaps.

Following this consideration, as part of the ratification process, my Department will undertake a stakeholder consultation with trade unions, employer representative bodies and other interested parties.

I wish to reassure the Deputy of Ireland’s commitment to work towards being amongst the first ILO member States to ratify Convention 190.