Brian Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)

I assure the Deputy that I am as anxious to fulfil my job in this process as he is, as a member of the committee. If it being suggested that when the committee brings forward a wording, the Government should step aside and we should get on with the referendum, that is not the process. The Government has to work out what are the implications of the referendum and what unintended consequences could arise from it. Every statement must be constitutionally right.

I understand the work that was done and the wording proposed, some of which is very long. However, this is not simply a matter of inserting the wording. Judges will have to decide what was meant when this, that or the other was stated. What are the financial implications? Have the resource requirements been worked out? One has to do this work. One cannot simply decide that the committee has done a great deal of work on this matter and reached an agreement on it.

This process started in 1993 with Catherine McGuinness and the Kilkenny incest case and much work has taken place since. Wording was also proposed in 2007 and the joint committee was asked to see if it could reach a consensus on the issue. It did two years work on the matter, which came before the Government in February. We must now get into the detailed work behind what has been put to us and see what are its implications, as any responsible Government would do. It is also what those who have worked on the matter would expect the Government to do.

I had a meeting on this issue with the Attorney General, the Minister of State with responsibility for children and the Ministers for Justice and Law Reform and Education and Skills at which we were updated on the issue. This is not a simple matter. While we are all agreed that we want to acknowledge the rights of children in our Constitution, we have to do this in a careful and considered way. I recognise the work done by the joint committee. To suggest that the Government is prevaricating, sitting on its hands or this is simple stuff and we should have the referendum by September is to ignore the reality. Let us give all sides some credit for taking our responsibilities seriously.

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