Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael)

You can keep me in line, a Cheann Comhairle.

In terms of dealing with issues of sexual offences and strict liability, on which Fine Gael disagreed with other members of the committee, we produced a proposal to reinstate the concept of strict liability to protect young people from sexual predators and sought constitutional change. The other members of the committee recommended some legislative reform which fell short of constitutional change. That report was published over a year ago. The legislation for that is not prioritised either in the Government's legislative programme. I have no idea why the Minister of State, Deputy Andrews pretends otherwise.

What is interesting, Sir, is that tonight we are having what is the second debate on the joint Oireachtas committee's report that recommends a referendum. We had the initial debate when the report was made before the House and various people spoke from all sides of the House. I noted in that debate not a single senior Cabinet Minister representing the Green Party, the Fianna Fáil Party or the now Independent, Deputy Harney, saw fit to contribute to that debate on children's rights and constitutional change. It is unprecedented that on a proposal for constitutional change that came from an all-party committee where consensus was achieved, not a single senior Cabinet Minister went on the record to say either they support the holding of a referendum in 2010 or they agree with the wording. Tonight, we have had a repeat of that with two Ministers of State speaking on behalf of the Government. The Minister of State, Deputy Andrews delivered a similar set-piece speech to the one we heard previously.

I welcome the novelty of the Minister of State, Deputy White contributing to the debate. I was very taken with her apparent understanding of the complexities of the issue. The reason I was taken with that is because the committee met on 62 occasions and Deputy Gogarty, who was a member of the committee is by coincidence Chairman of the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Education and Skills, which is supposed to have some interest in children and children's rights. Deputy Gogarty managed to attend four out of the 62 meetings of the Oireachtas Joint Committee on the Constitutional Amendment on Children. He participated in not a single meeting that discussed in any detail or addressed the issue of constitutional change. On behalf of the Green Party he made no contribution of any nature whatsoever to the framing of the wording. I welcome the green shoot that has arrived in the Dáil Chamber this evening to explain the complexities of it all to us. I congratulate the Minister of State, Deputy White. She is the first elected Member of the Green Party to contribute at all to a debate on this proposal because-----

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