Frances Fitzgerald
Ceist:201 Ms Fitzgerald asked the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform the number of times the monitoring committee on the Commission on the Status of Women has met in each of the years 1995-2001. [12499/01]
Written Answers - Commission on the Status of Women.
In accordance with a recommendation in the report of the Second Commission on the Status of Women, a monitoring committee was set up to monitor the implementation of the recommendations in that report.
The monitoring committee held its first meeting on 3 March 1994 and met on the following occasions in the years 1995-1997: 19 June 1995; 27 June 1995; 27 February 1996; 22 April 1996 and 22 April 1997.
In view of the overlap between the issues dealt with by the Second Commission on the Status of Women and the Beijing Platform for Action, the remit of the monitoring committee was expanded and the name of the committee was changed to the Gender Equality Monitoring Committee. The Gender Equality Monitoring Committee met on the following occasions in the years 1997-1998: 10 June 1997; 21 July 1997; 7 October 1997; 30 October 1997; 17 November 1997; 16 December 1997; 20 January 1998; 12 February 1998; 12 November 1998 and 10 December 1998.
The Gender Equality Monitoring Committee considered that research should be commissioned,inter alia, into the development of mechanisms to monitor progress in achieving gender equality in Ireland and decided at its meeting of 12 November 1998 to establish a sub-committee to commission and oversee this research. It was decided that the research project would include recommendations on how to implement outstanding areas of the Second Commission on the Status of Women. The project would also include proposals for monitoring outstanding recommendations and for changing the monitoring process. As the sub-committee would oversee the research project it was decided at the meeting of 10 December 1998, that the Gender Equality Monitoring Committee should meet when the research was completed.
The sub-committee met on a total of five occasions between November 1998 and November 1999 and reported back to the Gender Equality Monitoring Committee on 26 November, 1999.
The Gender Equality Monitoring Committee met again on 11 January 2000. The sub-committee then met on six occasions between March, and October 2000.
Much had been achieved by the Gender Equality Monitoring Committee over the years. Three monitoring reports had been published – one in 1994, a second in 1996 and the third in 1999. These reports monitored the implementation of the recommendations of the Commission on the Status of Women, indicating where progress was made and where obstacles to implementation occurred. However, the committee considered that the time had come to move forward into the future with a new agenda. The committee considered that the most efficient way to move forward was to draw up a national plan for women which would take up from the work of the Second Commission on the Status of Women. New monitoring structures would be required for the national plan for women and the research would identify mechanisms to monitor progress in achieving gender equality. Accordingly, the Gender Equality Monitoring Committee held its final meeting on 28 November 2000 where Dr. Yvonne Galligan presented her report on the research, commissioned by the committee, on the development of mechanisms to monitor the achievement of gender equality in Ireland.
Dr. Galligan's report is due for publication in the near future.
Frances Fitzgerald
Ceist:202 Ms Fitzgerald asked the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform the outstanding recommendations of the Commission on the Status of Women; and if he will outline his policy in this area. [12500/01]
The Commission on the Status of Women made 211 recommendations comprising more than 600 parts.
In accordance with a recommendation in the report of the Second Commission on the Status of Women, a monitoring committee was set up to monitor the implementation of these recommendations.
Three monitoring reports were published – one in 1994, a second in 1996 and the third in 1999. These reports monitored the implementation of the recommendations, indicating where progress was made and where obstacles to implementation occurred.
In 1999, on the advice of the Gender Equality Monitoring Committee, my Department, commissioned research on the development of mechanisms to monitor progress in achieving gender equality in Ireland, which is due for publication shortly. The terms of reference of the research included assessing the recommendations of the Second Commission on the Status of Women and making proposals regarding concrete steps towards implementation where recommendations could be implemented.
The research reviewed the recommendations of the Second Commission on the Status of Women and concluded that over three quarters of the 211 recommendations were implemented or were on the policy agenda by 1999-2000, that one-fifth were outstanding and that a small number were obsolete. The research highlighted difficulties in assessing implementation of the recommendations. In part, the difficulty was with the generalised nature of many of the recommendations and the large number of reforms sought. A further problem was encountered in measuring the policies produced in response to many of the recommendations as, unless subsequent policies did exactly as the recommendations called for, it was sometimes difficult to evaluate whether policy responses matched the report's recommendations. An additional complexity was that any assessment was subjective, as perceptions as to what constituted substantial as distinct from partial implementation depended on the perspective of the person carrying out the assessment.
Furthermore, progress is ongoing in certain areas covered by the recommendations. For example, substantial progress is being made in relation to childcare including the allocation of very substantial funding, amounting to £344 million over the period 2000-2006 and further work remains to be done over the coming years.
Details of the assessment of the position regarding the implementation of the recommendations, including a list of those considered to be still outstanding, will be available on publication of the research and this will provide an opportunity for relevant Departments to devise strategies, where appropriate, for implementation. The research recommends that a national plan for women be developed to replace the report of the Second Commission on the Status of Women as the framework for Ireland's gender equality agenda and that this plan should take the outstanding recommendations of the Second Commission's report into account.
My Department is currently working on the development of a draft national plan for women, 2001-05.