It was "absolutely central" to a good child care policy that children should be consulted about matters which concerned them, yesterday's conference on the marginalised child was told. This was not a matter of removing rights from parents or of putting responsibilities on children beyond their age, Mr Allan Levy QC said.
He was responding to the lecture by the President, Mrs McAleese, at the event organised by the Lillie Road Centre group of homes. Mr Levy has been involved in a number of childcare inquiries in Britain. He chaired the "pindown" inquiry in Staffordshire and represented the Department of Health in the Cleveland inquiry.
"It is important that children have a say if they are old enough and able to," he said. However, it would require a radical change in social attitudes and government policy both in Britain and in Ireland for this to happen.
The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child obliged states to protect children from abuse or neglect, he said. Child abuse scandals suggested governments were struggling when it came to providing this protection but in Ireland "it is obvious that the Government is responding" through publishing the child abuse guidelines and implementing the 1991 Childcare Act.
Last night's conference was officially opened by Mr Justice Declan Costello and was chaired by Prof Anthony Clare.