Martin Heydon (Kildare South, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I am delighted to have the opportunity to speak on this welcome amendment. I congratulate those who were involved in deciding that polling day will be a Saturday. This great move demonstrates how child-centred the referendum will be as we will not be taking children out of school on the day. Also, students and people who work away from home will have the opportunity to vote. This is a progressive move and I look forward to seeing the turn-out numbers and believe they will be much improved.

I congratulate the Minister on bringing this amendment to fruition. The Government prioritised this issue and children in general in the setting up of the Department and appointing a stand alone Minister to it, but she had a significant amount of work to do to bring the amendment forward following the establishment of the Department. The cross-party consensus we have on this is down to her diligence and the work done by previous members of the cross-party committee. This is welcome. I look forward to the canvass and to being able to knock on doors and explain this to the people of Kildare South. It will be a great opportunity. The referendum will reinforce the continued development of early intervention and family support services. It will encourage a response to child welfare concerns and help prevent more serious problems down the line, reducing the need for children to be taken into care. However, it is crucial that in conjunction with the change in the Constitution, we get the resources and support services necessary.

I take this opportunity to refer to a local issue in Kildare, namely, the provision of supports for women and children who are victims of domestic abuse. In 1998, the then eastern health board approached Newbridge Community Development to develop a women's refuge in County Kildare. In December 1998, 14 years ago, a formal meeting was held between the health board and Kildare County Council at which both agencies agreed a women's refuge was needed, and in 1999 Teach Tearmainn was formed. A helpline was set up in 2000 with the support of the health board while awaiting development of the refuge and the health board agreed expansion of the service in 2002 and to fund information and support services. Between 2002 and 2006, Teach Tearmainn, in alliance with the health board and Kildare County Council worked to identify a suitable site and agree a service model for a refuge, while continuing to provide the ongoing services through the helpline.

In 2009, the funding requirements for operational costs of the refuge were submitted to the HSE and in 2010, approval to proceed with the tender process was granted by the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government and a capital assistance grant was approved by the Department in 2011. Teach Tearmainn met with the HSE early in 2011 to discuss operational funding requirements and then made a formal submission to the HSE. The contracts were signed between Teach Tearmainn and the construction company, but later the HSE informed Teach Tearmainn that no funding was available. Teach Tearmainn has taken ownership of the women and children's refuge now, but it is not operational because the funding is not there. I know the Minister is well aware of this issue.

My point is that the referendum on its own is not enough. We need support services and we need structures in place. There are a number of difficulties in regard to why the refuge has not been delivered in 14 years. Part of the reason is that there are so many different agencies and State bodies involved, from the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government, the HSE, the Department of Health, the Department of Children and Youth Affairs and Kildare County Council. This is a problem. In 2011, some 59 women requested refuge from Teach Tearmainn and over 60% of them were referrals from State agencies. This demonstrates the challenges. So far in 2012, we have 50 women and 113 children seeking refuge from Teach Tearmainn for whom we cannot provide. Kildare needs a refuge and I will continue to work with the Minister, and other Ministers to provide that. The overriding point is that a referendum alone will not provide resources. We need services to be adequately funded to ensure our children and in this case women who are victims of domestic abuse have the level of protection required.

Deputy Creed touched earlier on the role of the McKenna and Coughlan judgments and the impact they will have on this referendum. Something struck me in that regard during the referendum on the fiscal compact. One section of society came out strongly in favour of that referendum, the agricultural sector. All the different farming organisations, the IFA with over 90,000 members, the ICSA, the ICMSA and Macra na Feirme all came out in full support of it. A handful of farmers in the midlands set up an organisation entitled Farmers for "No" and the level of coverage they had to receive because of these judgments was wholly disproportionate with the level of support farmers in general had for the referendum. In trying to ensure equal voices, we have a situation with regard to this referendum where broadcasters will have to go looking for people who have a negative attitude to it. This will lead to confusion. I have no problem with regard to providing equal air time to groups which want to make a case. However, when we have a situation where broadcasters may be forced to go looking for people to be negative in order to provide a balance, this is unhealthy and flies in the face of the judgments for fairness and balance.

I commend the Minister on her work on this and look forward to the campaign for what I hope will be a successful referendum.

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