Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party)
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Early last year, the Government appointed Ms Caoilfhionn Gallagher KC as Special Rapporteur on Child Protection for a three-year term from 1 February 2023.

The functions of the Rapporteur are to keep under review and to audit legal developments for the protection of children; to assess the impact, if any, litigation in national and international courts will have on child protection; to prepare a report annually and to examine, upon request, the scope and application of existing or proposed legislative provisions and to make comments/recommendations as appropriate.

The annual reports of the Special Rapporteur have tended to cover a wide range of policy areas and contain commentary and recommendations relating to several Departments and Agencies. In advance of publication the report is provided to all relevant Departments, on a confidential basis, so that they may consider the report and engage with relevant findings.

The Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth then submits the report to Cabinet for approval to publish. Once approved, it is laid before the Houses of the Oireachtas and published on the Department’s website.

The Department expects to receive Ms Gallagher’s first annual report shortly and it is intended that it will be published once the above process has been completed.