Question to the Northern Ireland Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, whether the Republic of Ireland has ratified the Council of Europe Framework Convention on National Minorities as required by paragraph 9 of the Chapter on rights, safeguards and equality of opportunity in the Belfast Agreement of 1998.

These questions are a matter for the Irish Government.

However, it is my understanding that: since 1998, a number of pieces of legislation have been introduced in the Republic of Ireland including the Employment Equality Acts 1998 and 2004; the Republic of Ireland ratified the Council of Europe Framework Convention on National Minorities in 1999, and; the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission, like the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission, is a UN ‘A status’ accredited National Human Rights Institution, structured and operated in accordance with the Paris Principles.