to UN and Council of Europe monitoring bodies on Ireland’s compliance with international and regional human rights instruments, including the ICCPR,iv CERDv and CEDAWvi. 5. The Institute on Statelessness and Inclusion (the Institute) is an independent non-profit organisation committed to promoting the human rights of stateless persons and fostering inclusion to ultimately end statelessness. Its work combines research, education, partnership and advocacy to promote the inclusion of the stateless and the disenfranchised. 6. The European Network on Statelessness (ENS) is a civil society alliance of NGOs, lawyers, academics and other independent experts committed to addressing statelessness in Europe. Based in London, it currently has 100 members (including 55 organisations) in over 30 European countries. ENS organises its work around three pillars: law & policy, communications and capacity-building. The Network provides expert advice and support to a range of stakeholders, including governments. The Universal Periodic Review of Ireland under the First Cycle 7. In October 2011, Ireland was subject to the First Cycle of the Universal Periodic Review during the 12th Session of the UPR Working Group. The matter of statelessness was not included in the Government report and was also not subject to any of the stakeholder submissions to the Working Group. However, the issue of citizenship was raised in the speech delivered by the then Minister for Justice, Equality and Defence, Mr Alan Shatter TD, at the Session of the UPR Working Group on 6th October 2011, in which he set out the Government’s commitment to “reducing the time taken to process applications for citizenship to an average of six months” and, with regard to immigration and asylum matters generally, to “reduce unacceptable delays in parts of the system”. He set out that there was “draft legislation before Parliament which will simplify procedures so that decisions on asylum, protection and immigration can be taken speedily and in a transparent manner”. The draft legislation was never enacted and will now be replaced by draft legislation focussing on the introduction of a single procedure for the processing of applications for refugee status and subsidiary protection by way of implementation of Council Directive 2004/83 EC of 29 April 2004 on minimum standards for the qualification and status of third country nationals or stateless persons as refugees or as persons who otherwise need international protection and the content of the protection granted.vii Furthermore, in response to a question raised by the UK, the Minister set out that he had “no plans to introduce appeals in citizenship matters”.viii 8. Some of the recommendations of the Working Group, partly accepted by the Government, focused on the immediate implementation of “legislation prohibiting any form of racial discrimination and [ensuring] humanitarian treatment for migrants and persons of non-Irish origin, including through adequate training for judicial and police personnel”.ix Another recommendation, which Ireland accepted, was to “urgently take measures necessary to ensure that the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child is fully implemented and incorporated into the legal and administrative system of Ireland”x. 3