Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)
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85. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality if there is a commitment that the UN Second Optional Protocol will be ratified following the enactment of the Criminal Law (Sexual Offences and Human Trafficking) Bill 2023. [49013/23]

Helen McEntee (Meath East, 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 on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography.

The Criminal Law (Sexual Offences and Human Trafficking) Bill 2023, which I published in July, will remove the final obstacles to ratification of the Protocol. The Bill will deal with the issues relating to extra-territorial jurisdiction and amend the Criminal Justice (Mutual Assistance) Act 2008 by the insertion of the Second Optional Protocol to the list of international agreements to which the Act of 2008 applies to ensure that Ireland is compliant with the requirements of the Protocol.

Once the outstanding legal obstacles have been removed, ratification of the Second Optional Protocol is a matter for my colleague the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth.