Dáil debates
Tuesday, 18 January 2011
Child Care (Amendment) Bill 2009 [Seanad]: Report and Final Stages
5:00 am
Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick East, Labour)
I move amendment No. 3:
In page 8, line 35, to delete "detention" and substitute "placement".
The word "detention" in the legislation is significant and we believe it has a harsh ring. The word is used 70 times in the Bill. We are keen to have our amendment accepted by the Minister of State on the basis that "placement" is a more child-friendly term rather than "detention". It seems inappropriate to refer to detaining children, as the Bill does several times. Originally, we had suggested using the word "rehabilitation". On Committee Stage, the Minister of State appeared to be somewhat sympathetic to using the word "placement". I hope that given the discussion on Committee Stage and the Minister of State's views, he might be amenable to considering the Labour Party amendment in a positive way.
Catherine Mills
Posted on 2 Mar 2011 1:33 pm (Report this comment)
Jan, the word detention is totally accurate, so please do not try and soften the energy by using the British legal language, to make it appear that children in corporate care are placed in loving homes when they are not. Chldren - human beings- are 7 times more likely to be abused in corporate care than at home.
Best interests of the child was Hitlers slogan so that needs scrapping as the vile energy is contained in it still.