The long-awaited Children's Bill is a "flagship" piece of legislation, according to the Minister for Justice, Mr O'Donoghue, who described it as one of the most important and far-reaching Bills to have been brought before the House in many years.

The legislation was a blueprint for a new system of juvenile justice which would charter the course of that system for many years to come.

The Minister said it was "radically different" to the one introduced by the previous government and its provisions included raising the age of criminal responsibility from seven to 12 years. The legislation would deal "more progressively with parental responsibility to identify and correct the structural weaknesses in the way services are provided to young offenders and disturbed non-offending children". Second, it provided for family welfare conferences and other new provisions for dealing with out-of-control non-offending children. It would re-enact and update provisions in the 1908 Act protecting children against abuse by persons who had the custody, charge or care of them.

Mr Dan Neville, Fine Gael's spokesman on children, said it was disappointing that it took three years to publish the Bill, and the delay was inexcusable. He said there was very little difference between this and the previous Bill.

"The courts may order parents to pay compensation, to exercise control over their child or make a parental supervision order." This order, he said, would give the court power to instruct parents to undergo treatment for drug or alcohol use, or to attend a parenting course where facilities were reasonably available.

"The role of the courts in promoting good parenting practices needs to be examined and questions raised as to whether resources will be made available to parents to allow them to comply with such orders."

Labour's spokeswoman on children, Ms Roisin Shortall, said that in the three years it had taken the Government to come up with legislation not much different from the previous Bill, "hundreds of children have fallen into the vicious cycle of crime and poverty . . .

She gave a broad welcome to the legislation, which "at long last gives this House an opportunity to have a substantial debate on child welfare and juvenile justice in this country".