International Agreements Seanad Éireann — 2026-05-07 ============================================================ Victor Boyhan (IND), Agricultural Panel I thank the Cathaoirleach for selecting this important Commencement matter. I join him in welcoming the Minister of State to the Chamber. I have asked for the Minister to make a statement on when Ireland intends to ratify the optional protocol to the United Nations convention against torture. As the Minister of State knows, Ireland signed that convention in 2017 and is the only EU country yet to ratify it. To give some background, this came about as a result of some ongoing engagement with the Mental Health Bill that completed all Stages in the Oireachtas last week. We had, shall we say, a robust and protracted debate on many aspects of the Bill, which is only right and proper in these Houses. One of the recurring themes was human rights issues and concerns about those. Concerns were raised by the Mental Health Commission but during the previous week we had statements from the Minister for justice on the prison system generally as well as penal reform. They were statements as opposed to legislation, but again there was that recurring theme. Much of what I have to say comes from the request by Mr. Mark Kelly, the Chief Inspector of Prisons, who has raised serious concerns about this issue. I draw the attention of the Minister of State and Senators to the Bar Council review published last week in which Mr. Kelly set out very clearly his concerns about the prisons. Prisons and mental health are two different things but the Minister of State will of course be aware that RTÉ's "Prime Time" did a major investigation into the mental health issues associated with people who were incarcerated in prisons. The overcrowding is another challenge but I do not want to get too far removed from the core of what I want to ask the Minister of State about. In Mr. Kelly's article, which I will make available to Members later but is in the library as we speak, he does not mince his words about his concerns. I will list the concerns, as I understand them. Ratification is critical to creating independent oversight of our prisons, psychiatric units and detention facilities, as recommenced by the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission. Key implications of the delay have been put to me and I am satisfied that they meet these criteria because I have spoken to a number of NGOs, Departments and other Government bodies. The concerns can be summarised as follows. We are missing the oversight mechanism. Ireland has not formally established an independent national preventative mechanism to inspect places of confinement, as required by the treaty. The treaty applies to all areas where liberty is restricted, including mental health units, immigration centres and Garda stations. There are concerns about those places. I understand that the Department of justice has been developing an inspection of places of detention Bill but I do not know where all of that is at. I understand that elements have yet to be finalised. I believe the Minister is absolutely committed to a wide consultation with all the people involved but there are serious issues in relation to this. I understand that the Government has cited on many occasions that there are complex issues around the consultation and it has emphasised it is its intention to safeguard people, especially vulnerable individuals in detention. My real question is on when the Government intends to ratify this important protocol. I will finish by thanking the Irish Penal Reform Trust, which the Minister of State is very aware of, as well as Mental Health Ireland and other advocates and NGOs in this sector. The real question is when will Ireland will be in a position to fully ratify the optional protocol to the United Nations convention against torture, which is important safeguarding legislation. --- Source: Houses of the Oireachtas. Licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). The Official Report is revised after first publication; the fetch timestamp below identifies the version quoted. Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/seanad/2026-05-07/debate/main Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:54+00:00 Sitting date: 2026-05-07