Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)

The amendment tabled by Government to the Labour Party-Sinn Féin motion before the House this evening is, as has already been described, self-congratulatory. It also appears to seek to exclude the input of all of the Opposition parties. The section not quoted by the previous speaker states: "recognises the work of the Government contained in the first and second interim reports of the Joint Committee on the Constitutional Amendment on Children", which committee was an all-party committee. We all had our respective inputs into the first and second reports, which reports are not so interim in that they required specific actions on the part of Government. We are still awaiting publication of the legislation to give effect to the first report in regard to reporting and soft information. This is not a congratulatory matter for Government by any yardstick whatsoever; it is regrettable.

I believe the Government has failed to grasp the sense of public outcry and anger in terms of the focus of the State's neglect of children which in recent times was historic vis-a-vis the religious institutions. It has now dawned on a growing number of people that the threat to children is not historic but is real and contemporary and will continue into the future. We must ensure that every protection possible is brought into effect to protect children into the future. This requires legislation, including the referendum Bill and the successful passage of a referendum along the lines of the wording already recommended by the all-party committee. We have already indicated that we will collectively work to ensure the successful passage of such an amendment if the Government would only indicate acceptance and a willingness to proceed.

Resourcing is critically important. Nowhere is this more underscored than in the tragedy of the murder of Daniel McAnaspie.

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