A/HRC/33/17 117. Ireland stated that it was now a country of significant inward migration and many migrants had chosen to become Irish citizens. Recently, citizenship ceremonies had been introduced, providing an important symbolic opportunity for the Irish State to welcome new citizens and celebrate their membership of the nation. 118. Significant progress had been made in advancing the rights of people with capacity difficulties. The Assisted Decision-Making (Capacity) Act 2015 was a comprehensive reform of the law governing people with capacity difficulties. 119. In Ireland, termination of pregnancy was regulated by constitutional and statute law. The first referendum on the subject, held in 1983, had introduced a new section in article 40 (3) of the Constitution which guaranteed the right to life of the unborn. A second referendum was held in 1992. The electorate was asked to vote on three proposed amendments to the Constitution. The twelfth amendment, which was designed to exclude the risk of suicide as a ground for lawful abortion, was defeated. However, the right to travel and the right to information were accepted. A third referendum on abortion was held in 2002 to remove the threat of suicide as a ground for a lawful abortion and thereby restrict the grounds recognized in the Attorney General v. X case. The proposal was defeated. 120. The Protection of Life During Pregnancy Act 2013 regulated access to lawful termination of pregnancy in accordance with the X case and the judgment of the European Court of Human Rights in the case of A, B and C v. Ireland. The Act established procedures firstly, to ensure that, where lawful termination of pregnancy was under consideration, the right to life of the unborn child was respected where practicable, and secondly to ensure that a woman could ascertain by means of a clear process whether she was entitled to the medical treatment to which the Act applied. 121. The Programme for Government had committed to establish a citizen’s assembly on the abortion laws, which would make recommendations on further constitutional changes and the eighth amendment would be considered as part of that work. 122. The National Sexual Health Strategy set out the direction that the Department of Health and the stakeholders, including those who used the services, wished to take over the next five years. 123. The Constitutional Convention had considered the incorporation of economic, social and cultural rights into the Constitution and had recommended that, in principle, the Constitution should be amended to strengthen the protection of those rights. The recommendation would be referred to the Oireachtas Committee on Housing and Homelessness for consideration. The Government had accepted the Constitutional Convention’s recommendation to remove the offence of blasphemy from the Constitution. 124. The Constitutional Convention had made recommendations on article 41 (2) of the Constitution, which referred to women in the home. The recommendations had been examined by a task force and its report would inform the new Government in its consideration of the issue. 125. In 2016, Ireland would introduce two weeks of paid paternity leave. 126. In 2012, the gender pay gap had been 14.4 per cent compared with a European Union average of 16.5 per cent. The employment rate for men in 2014 had been 73 per cent, up from 68 per cent in 2012. The female employment rate had shown a more modest but significant increase, from 59.4 per cent in 2012 to 61.2 per cent in 2013. The gender gap in employment rates had almost halved from 16 per cent in 2008 to 9 per cent in 2012, but had widened slightly since then as male employment had begun to recover relatively rapidly. The introduction of a national minimum wage had led to an improvement in relation to the gender pay gap. 12 GE.16-12337