Brian Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)

These are matters for consideration by Government. They will be considered during the remainder of the term of Government. When, how and in what way they will be taken is a matter for further discussion and debate.

Regarding children's rights, work is ongoing and includes one report on soft information, which is being considered by the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform and the Minister of State with responsibility for children. The second interim report on absolute or strict liability in respect of sexual offences against or in connection with children was published on 7 May. It contains 39 recommendations in total, including some that are restatements of the recommendations of the Joint Committee on Child Protection report of 2006 concerning criminal justice procedures. The Joint Committee on the Constitutional Amendment on Children was initially expected to report within four months of its establishment. Due to the number and complexity of issues under consideration and the volume of submissions received, the deadline for reporting to the Oireachtas has been extended on four occasions and the committee is due to report to the Oireachtas on 16 December. We should await this, given the work that is ongoing, before coming to a view on it. The majority view on the committee has been to examine legislation as a possible means of resolving this matter but we will await the report and then consider it.

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