Jackie Cahill (Tipperary, Fianna Fail)
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153. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade if he will provide an update on Ireland’s preparations for chairing the Council of Europe; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [15330/22]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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On 20 May, Ireland will assume the Presidency of the Committee of Ministers, the Council's principal intergovernmental decision-making body, for the seventh time, having last chaired it in 2000.

Preparations for the Presidency are well advanced, with an extensive programme of conferences, seminars, and other events planned in Strasbourg and across Ireland, alongside multiple high-level inward and outward visits.

The full programme, alongside the priority themes which will serve as a framework for the Presidency, will be confirmed by Government shortly. Situated in the context of the unfolding crisis in Ukraine, the latter are likely to focus on the central importance of the European Court for Human Rights; participatory democracy, with a focus on youth engagement; and the protection of the rights of minorities and vulnerable groups.

I intend to travel to Strasbourg a number of times over the six-month term, including to engage with the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, while our Permanent Representation to the Council of Europe, led by Ambassador Breifne O'Reilly, will host a series of events to showcase and celebrate the diversity of contemporary Irish culture.

Notably, in September, the Minister for Justice, Helen McEntee, will host a Ministerial conference in Dublin on the subject of Domestic, Sexual and Gender-Based Violence, with Justice Ministers from all 46 Member States coming together to spur efforts across the continent to substantively tackle violence against women and girls.

Working with the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth, the Department of Finance, and others, my Department is also organizing conferences in Dublin, Cork, and Galway to advance other critical areas of the Council of Europe's work, including children's rights and democratic participation.

The Committee of Ministers' decision last week, supported by Ireland, to exclude the Russian Federation is unprecedented in the 73-year history of the Council of Europe, and reflects the strongest possible condemnation of the Russian Federation's unjustified and unprovoked aggression against Ukraine, another Council of Europe member.

I regret that, through these actions, the Russian authorities have deprived the Russian people of the benefit of the world’s most advanced human rights protection system. But regrettable as it is, the exclusion is necessary, given the Russian Federation’s disavowal of the values, principles, and legal obligations which membership of the Council of Europe entails.

As a founder member, Ireland will champion those same values and principles through our Presidency term, reaffirming the Council of Europe's central role in the protection of human rights across the continent when it is needed most.