Marcella Corcoran Kennedy (Laois-Offaly, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Sadly, as a society, we embraced wholeheartedly the adage, "Children should be seen and not heard". We now know the impact of this school of thought. It was detrimental to the well being of our children and vulnerable adults of all ages and abilities. Not only did they suffer, but our society suffered the consequences of this neglect.

Children become teenagers who become adults and negative experiences in our childhood and teenage years influence our emotional and physical development. Too often, we hear of the harrowing stories of men and women whose horror filled childhoods stunted their emotional development, leaving them filled with anger or numbed by their experiences. I will not go into the details the many reports produced, as they have been well documented, but I wish to acknowledge the work of the legal teams and, more important,the openness of the individuals who contributed, thereby holding up a mirror to us as a society. What was reflected back at us was not nice to behold. Anybody who cares about our society could not but act swiftly to ensure those experiences are minimised in the future. Eliminating them would be ideal but, as previous speakers said, it will be difficult to eliminate predatory behaviour. I would like our children, teenagers and vulnerable adults to have the opportunities they deserve to lead healthy and contented lives.

The Bill is most welcome, as it finally transposes into law the procedures required to ensure those in responsible positions undergo vetting by the national vetting bureau. I acknowledge the excellent work being carried out by the Garda vetting unit, which over the past year has significantly reduced the waiting time for clearance. Additional resources, where possible, will continue to improve the service. I agree that being allowed to carry a vetting certificate from one agency or place of work to another should be provided for but a realistic term of validation must be put in place to ensure the information available on the individual being vetted is up to date. I am a little concerned about the lack of a requirement for individual child care providers to be vetted. I acknowledge families must make their own choices about child care. Some may use neighbours or family members they know well while others may use child care workers from different parts of the country or the world. However, everyone who cares for a child should be vetted because, as we know to our cost, stranger danger is not as common a concept as we might think. The provision for the Garda to use soft information is welcome. People are living longer and they want to remain in the security and safety of their own homes, as do people with disabilities. By vetting those who are entrusted to care for the people we cherish, we can be sure when our turn comes, we will be in the hands of people we can trust.

The announcement of the long awaited date and wording of the children's rights referendum was most welcome. Perhaps now, as a society, we can move forward having learned the lessons of the past, to ensure our children, teenagers and vulnerable adults enjoy their lives, whatever their abilities, and be enabled to enrich the lives of their families and our society as a whole.

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