Ms Tanya Ward:

I want to bring the discussion back to some of the key areas in regard to children, including child protection, child care law, and family law matters that are relevant in the context of Brexit. Those present are well aware that the EU has developed many different legal mechanisms and instruments governing aspects of children's lives. In the area of child protection, one of the most important instruments is the EU directive on child sex abuse and exploitation. That provides obligations, measures and protocols, whereby countries have to work together to deal with crimes that might be committed against the child where there might be some transnational element.

If someone views images of child abuse somewhere in England and, when the police investigate, it turns out that the material was generated in the Republic of Ireland, there are mechanisms and protocols in place because of EU law to allow the Irish Government to get that information and to use it to investigate, prosecute and potentially take a child into care. These are some of the real-life scenarios that are covered by EU law at the moment.

Another key area is where, for example, an unaccompanied refugee child arrives in Dublin and Tusla, the Child and Family Agency, discovers the child has family members somewhere in the United Kingdom. EU law governs the transfer of that child to that jurisdiction if it is in his or her best interest to go to that location with that family member. Another key area is that of child abduction. Let us say two parents in the Republic of Ireland are in dispute and one of them travels to the UK with a child without permission. An instrument called Brussels II is relied upon by the courts to bring that child back to the country.

The committee can understand there are many different ways in which our child protection systems interact and that it is necessary they interact. That is the general drive of EU law and policy in this area at the moment. Many of these key concerns involve a transnational element. We believe painstaking work needs to go into identifying each and every scenario where a child or a family might be exposed because EU law is dealing with this matter. There should be no loopholes for predators to travel from one country to another to abuse a child and there should be no loopholes impacting on the investigation and prosecution of these important types of crime. Child trafficking is a real and present issue that we are all dealing with throughout the EU. We cannot have any gaps in the law.

The most pragmatic recommendation in this area is for us to seek a soft Brexit where the UK remains in all the key legal agreements such as the common child protection system and the child care system. This is in the best interests of children and young people. I recommend this knowing that Theresa May in the media only this week has confirmed that is not going to happen, but that is what would be best for children and young people, namely, for the UK to remain in a common child protection and child care system. In the event that this does not happen, we need to make sure those areas identified are included in a bilateral British-Irish agreement to ensure there are no loopholes. We recommend that the State considers asking Dr. Geoffrey Shannon, who is our special rapporteur on child protection, to investigate this. As it happens, he is an expert on EU law and on Brussels. We think this could be very important in regard to informing the development of the negotiations.

We believe all five jurisdictions - Ireland, Northern Ireland, Wales, Scotland and England - need to work more closely together on the implications of Brexit for children and young people. At the very least, we must be consulting children and young people in all jurisdictions and making sure their voice is heard by the negotiators and governments in all jurisdictions, as well as by the EU, which also has to hear what children and young people have to say in this area.

On that point, the committee will be aware the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs is holding her own consultation with young people on 30 January. This needs to be followed up with leadership by politicians. We need them to fight for children and young people in the negotiations, which will be incredibly important because they cannot become a casualty of the negotiations. We also need leadership from our independent human rights institutions. In the Republic, that will be the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission and the Ombudsman for Children and in the North, that will be the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission and the Commissioner for Children and Young People. We need the independent institutions throughout the UK to stand together to fight the withdrawal or repeal of the Human Rights Act and to defend the Good Friday Agreement. We in the Children's Rights Alliance need to work more closely with our colleagues in all five jurisdictions and throughout the EU to make sure we deliver the best possible deal for children and young people as a result of Brexit.