Mick Wallace (Wexford, Independent)

I agree that improving the adoption laws is a positive step but, like Deputy Catherine Murphy, I am of the view that it is a terrible pity that a referendum on children's rights will not be immediately forthcoming. A referendum on the right's of the child has long been called for by organisations such as Amnesty International and Barnardos. I hope the Government will not kick the can down the road for quite as long as the previous crowd.

At this time last year, the Minister for Justice and Equality, Deputy Shatter, was screaming about the importance of holding a children's rights referendum immediately. However, he does not appear to have maintained that sense of urgency since coming to power. In its election manifesto the Labour Party stated:

The delay in proceeding with the referendum on children's rights is totally unacceptable. Labour in government will ensure that a children's rights referendum is urgently progressed.

Perhaps its idea of what is urgent and mine are different.

In its submission to the Irish Council for Civil Liberties, Barnardos stated:

Barnardos continues to campaign for the insertion of children's rights into the Irish Constitution. The conspicuous absence of distinct children's rights in the Constitution represents the ongoing failure of our society to adequately prioritise children and means that a distinction is made between children of married and non-married parents in the delivery and access of services. This distinction is in breach of Article 25 of the UN Declaration of Human Rights which states that: Motherhood and childhood are entitled to special care and assistance. All children, whether born in or out of wedlock, shall enjoy the same social protection.

This illustrates the fact that issues such as unequal access to services has distinctly disadvantaged many children in this country. Recently there have been serious cuts in respect of primary education which will certainly disadvantage many of the less well off in our society. I refer here to the cap in respect of special needs education, cuts in the number of resource teachers for Travellers and a reduction in the number of language support teachers. None of these measures will do the less well off children in this State any favours.

See this speech in context