Arthur Morgan (Louth, Sinn Fein)

Yesterday the Tánaiste stated that it was her personal view that the referendum on children's rights was very important and should be a stand-alone referendum, not held on the same day as by-elections. I welcome that statement and I hope it is more than a personal view, that it is shared by her Government colleagues. Let me say to the Government on behalf of Sinn Féin that we will not press for the by-elections to be held on the same day as the referendum. The referendum should have a clear run. All the issues need to be clearly explained and properly debated. There is no good reason why that should not happen this year. I call on the Government to accept the good will of the Opposition parties, the parties with which its members worked closely on the Joint Committee on the Constitutional Amendment on Children, and to proceed to implement the agreed recommendations. Put the agreed wording to the people in a referendum and do it this year.

The Minister of State, Deputy Barry Andrews, said in his speech last night that we were "never closer" to a referendum. How close is closer? How long is a piece of string? We need certainty, not such vague reassurances. I note also that the Minister of State changed his script. The script referred to a referendum which "may follow" but the Minister of State, in his delivery, changed that to "will follow". Does that indicate an unwillingness on the part of the Minister of State's officials to commit in any way to a referendum? The Minister of State should ignore such attitudes and follow the advice of the committee of which he was a key member.

The Bill to hold a referendum on children's rights is long overdue. The fact that there is such a poor approach to children in every statutory body is testament to this. In the area of child protection in my own constituency of Louth, I am aware of at least one out-of-hours GP co-operative that does not ensure that the locum doctors it employs are vetted by the Garda Síochána. In Dáil questions that my colleague Deputy Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin has submitted, the Minister for Health and Children and the HSE have refused to give a straight answer as to whether it vetted all of its employees that work with or have access to children.

It is this sort of information that is particularly worrying for the people of Louth, considering it was in that county that the health board allowed Dr. Shine to operate freely in Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Drogheda while being well aware of the allegations that had been made against him. Such inertia could allow another Dr. Shine-type situation to develop.

When children are placed in residential care facilities after being removed from risky situations, they are subject to further risk. These facilities do not receive independent and thorough inspections. Legislation must be enacted to ensure this happens. When children are in the care of the State, social work provision is patchy or non-existent. We have recently seen a case where a child was left overnight in an Internet café due to a lack of facilities. How crazy is that situation? Children are still sleeping in Garda stations. There are no therapeutic facilities in this State for children with severe difficulties, and the HSE sees fit to export them to facilities overseas rather than providing for them here, where they can be near their families. This is not the story of a State that can claim to respect or uphold the rights of children.

We do not even know the full extent of the problems faced. The Children Acts Advisory Board has noted that HSE data are challenging when trying to make year on year comparisons. Published data are incomplete even though they are not published for between nine and 18 months after the fact.

Very often there are no separate facilities for children with intellectual disabilities, and where there are facilities, they are often inadequate. I am aware of cases in one facility in my constituency for children with intellectual disabilities where adults in the adjoining facility have wandered into the building. This is highly inappropriate. This same facility is in need of massive refurbishment, as well as extra staff.

In the meantime the Government considered it appropriate to make massive cuts in education spending across the board, with special needs assistants being cut, leading to severe effects on schools' efficiency and the ability to deliver for children. I have received huge numbers of representations on this issue, as has every Member, from parents who are distraught at the withdrawal of these essential supports from their children, supports that would be of substantial benefit to them.

The Irish Government signed the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child in 1990 and ratified it in 1992. This ratification committed the State to promote, protect and fulfil the rights of children as outlined in the articles of the convention. A constitutional amendment is one of the ways we need to do that. There is cross-party agreement and support for the proposed amendment wording. The Government has no excuse for putting this on the back-burner. Let the referendum take place and let it be this year. Sinn Féin has cleared the way for doing so by setting aside temporarily the issue of the by-elections. The Government has no excuse for not proceeding immediately.

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