Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent)
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1091. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality when Ireland intends to ratify the Optional Protocol to the CRC on the Sale of Children, Child Prostitution and Child Pornography, adopted by the UN General Assembly in 2000, and signed by Ireland in 2000; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [63817/22]

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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The Government is firmly committed to ratification of the Second Optional Protocol to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.

In consultation with the Office of the Attorney General, several legislative measures have been implemented which were necessary to ensure that Ireland is in compliance with the obligations of the Optional Protocol. Enactment of the Criminal Law (Sexual Offences) Act 2017 and the Criminal Justice (Victims of Crime) Act 2017 were significant steps on the pathway to the ratification of the Optional Protocol.

Further smaller legislative amendments relating to the extra-territorial jurisdiction requirements under Article 3.1 will ensure that the State is in compliance with certain outstanding aspects of the Protocol. These amendments have been included in the General Scheme of the Criminal Justice (Sexual Offences and Human Trafficking) Bill 2022 which was approved for publication by the Government on 27 July 2022. Drafting of the Bill is currently at an advanced stage and will be finalised early in 2023 and published thereafter. Once enacted, Ireland should be in a position to ratify the Second Optional Protocol.