Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I congratulate the Minister on her appointment and wish her well and many long and happy years in her Department. Hers is an important role that has been well underlined in society in recent years.

The shortcomings in legislation to protect children have been blatantly obvious for many years. Therefore, this is crucial legislation. It follows in the wake of the amendment to the Constitution that provided for it. It is something on which the Minister can put her stamp in the years ahead. She has an opportunity, in particular, to set down the protection children need and recognise their position in society. She also has an opportunity to recognise the need to ensure that in years to come those who look back will be able to say legislation was put in place and that a Minister took control in continuation of the work carried out by her predecessor. The legislation will be of tremendous benefit to society.

One can only but be impressed by the comments of my colleagues to which I listened today and last evening. We must put ourselves in the position of a child to fully appreciate and recognise the extent to which a child is governed by events around him or her and over which he or she has little or no control. It is entirely appropriate that the State be in a position to guarantee the rights of the child.

Like my colleague, we were all subject to a certain amount of criticism and suspicion in the run-up to the referendum, at which time it was inferred that the intention was to extract children from their natural parents and the family home against the will of the parents and so on. Of course, that was not the intention of the referendum, nor is it the intention of the legislation. If one studies the world in which children reside, one notes that they are governed by what happens around them, what they see around them and what they see as affecting them in their own little way. Their lives are shaped by their formative years and the way they are treated, in addition to their feeling of being part of, cared for and loved in a family unit and of belonging to it. In other words, they require security and rely on those around them.

However, in some cases, such security is not available to them.

I would always be reluctant to remove a child from its natural parents, particularly its mother, because separation causes serious trauma to both mother and child. Deputies will have watched various television programmes featuring cases involving children who traced their birth parents or vice versa after many years of separation. In many cases, the mother and child have spent years wondering how the other has traversed through life and whether he or she has been successful. We must recognise that the bond between mother and child persists throughout life by ensuring the legislation pays due regard to this sensitive parental bond, or perhaps I should say "maternal bond".

We have all dealt with difficult cases involving families. Some involve a tug of love over a child and children will become vulnerable as a result of marital breakdown. Acrimonious separation cases in the courts may result in children becoming the subject matter of major legal battles. In the first instance, I feel sorry for the children affected, as we all should, but I also feel sorry for the parents who may or may not feel genuine sorrow. The problem may have escalated to such an extent that neither parent is willing to give way to the other. In such cases, concerns about the child or the life he or she will lead following the separation become secondary to the battle taking place in the courts, with various experts called to give their opinion.

In the final analysis, we must come down to the level of the child and ask what he or she wants. The Bill makes provision to do precisely that, which is good. In some circumstances, it may be difficult to identify precisely what the child wants. For example, in a tug of love case, the child may be influenced by one or other party to such an extent that he or she is confused and cannot reach a decision. We must be mindful of this.

As previous speakers noted, addiction can result in neglect, whether wilful or as a result of an inability to cope, leading to children becoming vulnerable. Some observers will argue that children are better off in their natural environment with their parents. On the other hand, we must ask whether it is in the best interests of a child to remain in such an environment. To what extent will a child be psychologically damaged by being allowed or forced to remain in a setting in which it believes it is not wanted or loved and does not feel a sense of belonging? It is vital for small children that they have a sense that they are secure, safe and belong. Children do not know the ways of the world and are in a learning curve. What they see happening around them informs their later lives and they adopt the attitudes that are displayed towards them in their formative years. We must take account of all the nuances in a child's life in these sensitive and important years. Irrespective of the reasons a child finds itself subjected to neglect, abuse or deprivation - the circumstances are beyond the child's control and may be the result of a parent's addiction problems or because they are poor and find themselves unable to cope by virtue of their poverty - society has a responsibility to act. However, the State must intervene in a positive and supportive manner, in the first instance taking care to ensure it does not interfere unnecessarily or in a provocative or challenging manner. It must intervene in a supportive manner that is in the interests of the child and takes account of the particular circumstances of the case.

All Deputies will have encountered cases involving a poor, unfortunate child who is in a difficult position which may worsen. In the past 30 years, we have had ample evidence of cases involving deliberate and sustained abuse of children with no action taken to address the matter. While we are quick to point out that the perpetrators were horrible people, which is true, we must also recognise that society at the time was not as caring as it should have been. I hope that when people look back on this period, they will conclude that society was caring, assumed responsibility and intervened in a supportive manner that reflected the interests of vulnerable children and did so with a view to ensuring the children concerned were able to grow up in a less challenging environment to make a normal contribution to society. If we fail to adopt this approach, the circumstances I have described will be revisited on society and we will have further recriminations as people ask why such cases were permitted to take place. Let us not forget the many things that happened here in the not too distant past over many years. We now ask why and how they happened but the simple reason was that no one did anything about them. Many people were aware of various abuses and there were plenty of avenues available to challenge and address them but people did not act.

How does an adolescent who has experienced abuse feel? In countless instances of abuse, deprivation and hostility, it has been suggested the child was at fault. This may be an astonishing conclusion to reach but it is the way society operated at the time. We still have a tendency to look away and pretend that certain things are not happening, society has evolved and this type of abuse no longer occurs. That is a dangerous position to be in.

Last night, in a moving speech, Deputy Joan Burton referred to the rights of adopted persons to know about their past and to be able to relate to their natural parents and inquire into and obtain information on the circumstances surrounding how they came to be adopted. In a modern, transparent society, we must make provision to vindicate these rights. I am aware that separate legislation has been introduced to address this issue. I hope it can be implemented with this legislation in the shortest possible timeframe.

I believe this legislation is hugely important and that it will make a major contribution towards stabilising society in the future. It will give us an opportunity to recognise the children of the nation, as referred to in the Constitution. We have a responsibility towards them and must accept and deal with that responsibility in their best interests.

I do not have time nor is it appropriate to go through the various sections of the Bill now, but I hope it satisfactorily addresses the issues that have been prominent in recent years and that the protection it proposes to give children will be manifest in time to come.

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