Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees
Thursday, 12 January 2017
Joint Oireachtas Committee on the Implementation of the Good Friday Agreement
Implications for Good Friday Agreement of UK Referendum Result: Discusssion (Resumed)
12:05 pm
Ms Tanya Ward:
We are only developing our position. Like everyone else, we are trying to get to grips with what the implications of Brexit are. We have met with our colleagues on the National Advisory Council for Children and Young People. This body was established by the Government to advise it on the implementation of our national children's strategy, Better Outcomes, Brighter Futures. We are the leaders in the children and youth charities and we are coming together to identify what the issues are and to communicate to Government and different bodies with an interest in this area what they need to achieve. The Minister for Children and Youth Affairs has been very active. She has been in contact with all of us asking for advice. The Taoiseach, Deputy Enda Kenny, to his credit, gave us a platform at the all-Ireland dialogue to raise these issues. We are one of the only human rights groups that had that position. We think that our politicians care about what happens to children but the reality is that some of the things they will have to seek will be difficult.
Regarding the European Convention on Human Rights, the stated position of the Prime Minister is to get out of the Human Rights Act. How will that be managed? As I said, it is a thread of the Good Friday agreement. It is non-negotiable. I agree with Deputy Maureen O'Sullivan that the Good Friday agreement is one of the best playing cards in this regard.
One organisation with which we link is Eurochild, which is a European membership-based organisation. We need to go to our counterparts in other countries and meet them at different fora to explain what we need to achieve for children and young people and what will make a difference. Of course, we will need to take account of what they need from us because children and young people from their jurisdictions are living throughout the United Kingdom, so they will want to see some guarantees for those children as well. More broadly, the EU Agency for Fundamental Rights has a major role to play. An Irishman, Michael O'Flaherty, leads that agency. We should rely on the agency to educate us on the implications, particularly in the very minute eye of law. Much work must be done by many lawyers to work out what the gaps are. That is incredibly important as well.
Does Ms Brady wish to add anything else?
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