Government urged to set date for referendum

REACTION:THE GOVERNMENT was urged to set a date for the referendum on children's rights by organisations which had lobbied for an amendment to the Constitution.

The Children’s Rights Alliance welcomed the publication of the proposed wording for an amendment to the Constitution by the Oireachtas Committee on the Constitutional Amendment on Children .

The report brought closer the goal of “securing constitutional change that will make a real and positive difference to all children in Ireland”, Jillian van Turnhout chief executive of the umbrella body said.

The thrust of the report reflected the alliance’s recommendations for reform, she said.

However she warned that the report must not be allowed to “gather dust on a shelf”. Progress in relation to the previous two reports of the committee had so far been unacceptably slow, she said.

The “far-reaching measures” were welcomed in a joint statement by several charities including Barnardos, CARI, the Irish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (ISPCC), One In Four and the Rape Crisis Network of Ireland.

They particularly welcomed the inclusion of the “best interests” of the child and their right to have their voices heard in judicial and administrative proceedings.

It also welcomed a provision for children to be protected regardless of their parents’ marital status.

However the legislation from the committee’s previous report on vetting, soft information and strict and absolute liability must be published as a matter of urgency, they said.

If 2009 was “the year in which we discovered the shameful neglect and abuse of children over many decades”, 2010 must be the year that Ireland “stands up for children’s rights”, the statement said.

The report was welcomed by Treoir, the national federation of services for unmarried parents and their children.

Treoir assistant chief executive Margot Doherty said equality between children of married and unmarried parents had been an aspiration of the organisation since its inception.

She hoped the interpretation of the wording of the proposed Article 42 was not negated by the decision to retain article 41.1, which recognises the family as the natural primary unit.

The Irish Council for Civil Liberties called on Minister for Children Barry Andrews to “unequivocally endorse” the proposals and hold a referendum at the “earliest opportunity”.

The council’s director, Mark Kelly, said the recommendations recognise that children “are not mini-human beings with mini-human rights”.

Amnesty International executive director Colm O’Gorman said the publication of the wording “must put children’s rights at the centre of the political debate in this country”.

“The recent past has shown that when the State fails to defend the rights of our children the result is often abuse and exploitation,” he said.

Mr O’Gorman said that it was over a decade since the constitutional amendment was first promised.

However the director of the pro-family Iona Institute David Quinn warned that the amendment must not give the State “more power of intervention in families than is required” while “purporting to protect children”.