Ciara Conway (Waterford, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I too am delighted to speak on the Bill. As a young person and recent entrant to politics who sometimes wonders why I bothered, today is a good day. I have been lucky enough to see it from the other side. I was somebody outside of this House 18 months ago who was lobbying for this referendum, through my work with Barnardos and, previously, as a social worker with the HSE. Today is a good day for the children of Ireland and for families of Ireland. People's fears should be allayed and having this opportunity to discuss the Bill in the House should contribute to that.

It is very simple. Of the 1.2 million children who currently live in Ireland, there are 6,000 children in the care in the State. There are 6,000 children who, for whatever reason, are not allowed or not able to live with their families. We should not write these children off and they should have a second chance at a stable, loving family environment. I am lucky enough to have two adopted sisters and have seen at first-hand how an adopted child can bring such joy and happiness to families. In this debate we need to reflect on where we have failed in the past to safeguard and protect children, particularly those who were removed from mothers and put up for adoption, in some cases without the consent of the parents.

There is another small group of children who have not been remarked upon in the course of this debate, that is, those of a married couple bereaved of one parent and whose other parent remarries, where, under the current state of affairs, the new spouse is not eligible to adopt those children and provide them with a second chance of a family. I have personal experience of this because of some cases on which I have worked and some friends of mine. This is another group of children whose rights will be exercised and fulfilled by the passing of this constitutional amendment.

Deputy McCarthy rightly spoke about the fear mongering and scare tactics sometimes used about the control of the State. As somebody who worked in a social work department for four years, I am aware that the last action any social worker wants to take if at all possible is to remove a child from a family because all the evidence shows, and many of the critical thinkers on social policy would say, that sometimes a bad family is better than an institution. The key to alleviating people's worries and fears in this regard relates to proportionality. What the Minister has been able to do in 18 months that other Governments failed to do time and again is to really take this on head first. We had a situation in this country some time ago where the Government could not tell us how many children died in State care. That was a disgrace, but moves have been made to ensure that data collection is done in a proper, efficient and professional way. It is integral for us as legislators to have this information so that we can be proactive and protect the most vulnerable children, and the Minister is to be commended on that.

When I sat in backrooms in HSE buildings in the south east and pontificated on what was right and wrong about the system, one of the points we always made is that we should remove child protection from the HSE. What has happened in the past 24 hours must show us that the issue of health is contentious, difficult and problematic. We owe it to our children to remove child protection from the HSE and give it an agency of its own; it requires, needs and deserves its own status.

The Minister and her Cabinet colleagues are to be commended for ensuring a budget has been made available for the establishment of such an agency and prioritising the protection and welfare of children. The children involved are a minority. They are children who may never have an opportunity to walk through the doors of Dáil Éireann and the ones to whom we, as legislators, must give a voice. They are often from families experiencing great difficulties, often owing to alcohol. Much has been said today about a multinational company which is hijacking today's date to promote its product. Over the course of this debate we have heard about all the things that impact on the lives of children, but the greatest difficulty children in Ireland face is the misuse of alcohol by parents. This impacts on children socially, emotionally and sometimes financially and has huge repercussions for their development. Misuse of alcohol is often one of the main reasons State intervention is required to protect children and their rights. Therefore, I commend the Minister and the Cabinet for bringing forward what I consider to be an unopposable amendment.

The crazy lunacy we saw in the Roscommon case has been well documented. Those who work in public services are often judged roughly and blamed and asked why they did not do their job. However, social workers went to court time and again to try to secure full care orders for the children involved in the Roscommon case who were suffering horrendous abuse at the hands of their parents, yet somebody on the fringes of radicalism - for want of a better word - thought it would be a good idea to finance a High Court case for the parents. The person concerned thought that because the parents were married, they were entitled to their children, above the rights of those wonderfully brave children who were able to give evidence in court to secure the care orders they so badly needed to ensure their lives would be protected and improved. Nobody can disregard the damage done to these children which they will carry through their adult lives. Most speakers have spoken about how a child's formative years are so important; a truer word cannot be said. Now, for the first time since our former President Mrs. Mary Robinson and the current President Mr. Michael D. Higgins made their brave move to tackle the issue of the use of the word "illegitimate" in the Seanad in the 1970s, we have a Government which is committed to ensuring all children, regardless of the marital status of their parents, will be treated equally. This is only right and proper in a modern democracy. For this reason, I commend the Minister and her Cabinet colleagues for having the foresight to bring forward the amendment.

I welcome the decision to set the voting date for a Saturday. This is something for which I called six months ago and also at our think-in some weeks ago and I would like to think I had some influence in that regard. The reason I called for the holding of the referendum on a Saturday was to ensure the people closest to children, those who have recently turned 18 years, would have an opportunity to exercise their vote. I strenuously urge them to ensure they are registered in time to vote in order to participate and ensure what I hope will be a "Yes" vote in the campaign for children's rights.

I commend the Minister for her work on the wording of the amendment and her work which might sometimes be seen by onlookers as piecemeal in rebuilding child protection services. Having worked at the coalface, I can appreciate what she has done to establish a single agency to ensure the protection and welfare of children, particularly given the new focus on practice and outcomes. This will deliver immeasurable and better outcomes for some of Ireland's most vulnerable children. For that reason, the Government is to be commended.

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