Professor Conor O'Mahony:

If we were to look at the question of whether amendments are needed to existing legislation, there are all sorts of things on the Statute Book that interact with children's rights in different ways. Work has been done in which Professor Kilkelly has been involved that is with the Department of children at the moment. It is attempting to provide a comprehensive overview of the current state of the Statute Book vis-à-vis children's rights. No doubt there will be plenty in that to be considered and acted upon. On where the Convention on the Rights of the Child fits in that, that is already being done in a context where we have not incorporated and we are auditing the Statute Book, as it were, to see where we are compatible with the convention and where we are not.

On incorporation and the pace of change, that could heighten the onus to progress the work by making it an obligation of national law as well as simply part of our international obligations. On the question of how quickly we need to do that, whatever we do in respect of incorporation, it is important - notwithstanding the fact that I have often been critical of the pace of change in this area - that we not rush on this particular issue. Whatever we choose to do, it is a very important opportunity. At the moment, serious consideration is being given to the question of incorporation for the first time. We have not got to this level of detailed consideration before, so there is an opportunity to do something very important and meaningful. It is important that we take that opportunity and come to a view as to what is the best model for Ireland and the best timetable in which we implement that. It would be a shame if we were to rush to do something just for the sake of doing something. If we were to take a little bit longer to do something that ultimately would be more effective, that would be my preference. We are playing a bit of a long game, going back to how there is no panacea or magic wand that will fix all the problems at once. This is an iterative process. It takes time, so proceeding cautiously and deliberately is the right approach