Brian Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)

An assessment has to be made by Government on that matter. Good work was done by the all-party committee and a great deal of time was spent on it. The question of children's rights is a complex area and how that plays into the Constitutional rights framework is an important factor, which we need to address in an appropriate way. The Cabinet has not yet made a decision on when and how to proceed. The work that has been done was brought to the attention of spokespersons and my understanding was people may not have given their full agreement immediately to it. People recognise the quality of the work and we, as a Government, must decide whether it wishes to proceed or not.

I cannot say more than that until the Minister of State, Deputy Barry Andrews, comes back to the Cabinet as a result of the discussion he is having. This issue was raised constantly and charges were made that no work was being done on it and there was prevarication. That is not correct and the quality of the work that has been produced is testimony to the fact that the Government has to work interdepartmentally on this matter because of the various issues that arise and then come forward with what I believe will be a very coherent piece of work. I cannot comment further until the Cabinet discusses the matter beyond where it was when we last discussed it.

See this speech in context