Brian Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)

I do not have any supplementary information on the last point raised by the Deputy.

I have no problem talking to Opposition party leaders before the December Council meeting.

No provision was made in the Estimates for a referendum next year because no decision has been taken. Calls for a constitutional amendment to enshrine children's rights under the Constitution have been referred to. Government proposals to amend the Constitution in relation to children were published in the Twenty-eighth Amendment to the Constitution Bill 2007. The programme for Government includes a commitment to deepen consensus on these proposals. As a result, a Joint Committee on the Constitutional Amendment on Children was established in November 2007. The committee has already presented an interim report to the Oireachtas recommending that the Government should publish legislation to establish a statutory scheme for Garda vetting and the exchange of soft information on persons posing a threat to children. That is the current position.

See this speech in context