Progressive Democrat sources have declared the Programme for Government "sacrosanct" following Fianna Fail's latest rejection of the programme's pledge to introduce mandatory reporting of child abuse.
The rejection by Minister of State for Health, Mr Frank Fahey, is all the more embarrassing for the PDs whose junior minister, Ms Liz O'Donnell, said this week that she was "not prepared to abandon a pledge I made when out of government".
Mr Fahey's move effectively challenges Ms O'Donnell to make good on that claim. Ms O'Donnell made a commitment about mandatory reporting to the UN committee on the rights of the child in Geneva on Monday. She also made a number of other commitments in her capacity as Minister of State for Foreign Affairs. They included a pledge that Mr Fahey would be given responsibility for childcare issues in the Departments of Justice and Education as well as Health. This would be a return to the practice adopted by the previous government. A Government spoksman said this would be implemented next week.
Ms O'Donnell also promised that the proposal to appoint an Ombudsman for Children would be reconsidered, but that plan, announced by Mr Currie in the previous government, had already been ruled out by Mr Fahey. It could not be established last night if Mr Fahey intends to change his stance on this issue.
On the issue of mandatory reporting, a Government spokesman said what was involved was a difference of emphasis by Ms O'Donnell and Mr Fahey. It was on this issue that Ms O'Donnell made her strongest commitment to the UN, when she stated she was not prepared to abandon the promise in the Programme for Government. Ms O'Donnell could not be contacted last night for comment.
In a statement yesterday, Mr Fahey told The Irish Times that "what I am proposing does not preclude the introduction of mandatory reporting at some stage in the future but I am convinced that it is not the best thing to do at the present time."
"There are genuine fears that mandatory reporting could lead to fewer cases of child-abuse being reported; it could actually be counter-productive," he said. "I should point out that mandatory reporting was considered and rejected some 10 years ago in the UK and it is not an issue at all in Northern Ireland."
"My concern is the best interest of the child," he declared.
His statement ends with what appears to be a rebuke to Ms O'Donnell for her attempt to reverse his rejection of mandatory reporting: "I think that this is the best approach and I think that child-abuse is too important an issue for it to become a political football."
A Government spokesman said that while Mr Fahey had formed the view that the introduction of mandatory reporting was unlikely, "it hasn't been excised from the Programme [for Government]".