Brian Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)

Yes, but the idea was to try to find consensus. A consensus emerged that was different, if one likes, from what we had in 2007, which is why the committee was set up. What are the implications of the consensus wording that has come forward? What are the sectoral implications for education, health or any area involving children's rights? What is the nature of the interventions that are being suggested in the wording? What impact does that have on family rights or on children's rights? What express further acknowledgement of existing rights beyond what exists in the Constitution are we talking about? As the Deputy knows, constitutional law needs to be very carefully considered. We do not do a service to the children of Ireland if we do not bring forward something that we know can be validated and acknowledged in our Constitution. We do not want to end up in a situation where the words we propose could involve judges' interpretations that were unintended or could have consequences beyond the ability of an Executive to deal with. These issues need to be very carefully considered.

It is not for the purpose of making something simple complicated. It is not for the purpose of wasting time or not being committed to it. It is because the Government - as I am personally - is very committed to it. I want to be able to stand over what is coming forward and do it right. There are adoption issues and social protection issues. The Deputy has seen the draft that has been proposed. From other areas of family law or involving fundamental rights, he has seen what the implications and sometimes unintended effects of wordings can be. He has seen that himself. It has been our constitutional experience. We need to work through this issue.

I say to the House that this is an issue I take seriously and is being worked upon. It in no way detracts from the work of the committee that was established to see what consensus could be built up. However, the Government now needs to get into the business of working out the implications of what is being suggested. It is a responsible thing to do to ask Departments, as I have now done, to consider what has been proposed here and, in so far as one can obtain a constitutional interpretation, see what are the implications.

Can we give a broad figure of the resource requirements? We need to know before we decide we are all in favour of putting a constitutional referendum on children to the people. Then the people are entitled to ask subsequently whether we realised this, that and the other about it. They could ask what our view was and whether we checked it out. That is what is involved. It is not in any way to be, as has been suggested for months, that we are simply messing around. There is a lot of detailed work. There are legislative implications beyond that regarding what is coming forward.

The Members know that this is not a simple area; it is a very difficult area because it is also about the interaction of rights and children in the context of the family and what interventions are proposed, and the adoption issue. I assure the House that we are working on this.

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