Geraldine Feeney (Fianna Fail)

Like other speakers, I am delighted to see this day when we are in the House with the Minister of State to debate this wonderful report. I feel a little out of place now because at this time on Wednesday Senator Alex White and I used troop off to a meeting, of which there were 62, of the Committee on the Constitutional Amendment on Children. I find I am at a loss these Wednesdays. I do not know what to do with myself.

The report was published a week ago and it is timely that we are already here to discuss it with the Minister of State. I commend him for the great interest he has in his brief. I have had numerous chats with him about various matters, one as recently as this morning. It always comes across to me that deep in his heart he has children's interests first and foremost. Even before the interests of parents he sees the child's interest as paramount over all else. Not everyone might have taken the interest he has taken in this brief.

Other speakers have dealt with the legalistic aspects of the report. That is one area of our committee meetings I will not miss. There were times when they were so legalistic that one wondered what one was doing there. Yet, one was compelled to be there because it was such an interesting committee. I am proud to have been asked to serve on the committee and of everyone's work on it. We had a wonderful Chairman in Deputy Mary O'Rourke. She was humorous and hard-working and kept us all on our toes. She was so inclusive that she included every single member. There were days when one felt that if one kept one's head down she might not ask for one's opinion but she always asked for everyone's opinion. This was good because it made us work hard.

The work was two years in process but the two years were well spent. A mature approach was taken by the whole committee. No one came with fixed ideas. Everyone had an open mind. Last week at the launch of the report, Deputy Brendan Howlin said the work of the committee and the way in which we reached a consensus was a blueprint for how committees should work. There was much arguing and party lines were followed but they were then thrown out because every member of the committee had the interests and protection of children to the front and to the centre of what we were doing.

This report comes on the back of the Murphy report. There is a huge desire for change and now is the time to make it. I hope we see a referendum at the back end of 2010 and that the report does not have a chance to gather dust. I am glad to see we are looking after children. I hope we will see the end of long-term fostering and that every child in the State will have the experience of knowing what it is to have parents.