David Cullinane (Sinn Fein)

I welcome the Minister. As this is our first opportunity to do so, I wish her the best of luck in a very important Ministry. She will have a very important job in the coming months and years. I also welcome the report and I draw the Minister's attention to the report published by the Ombudsman for Children, which is a very important report on the rights of children.

Senator Fidelma Healy Eames spoke about the sense of shame many people feel because of the neglect or abuse of children. The people who should feel most shame are the people who were responsible for those abuses, but those who were in power and did not act or listen should also feel a sense of shame. This generation has the opportunity to right many of those wrongs and introduce mechanisms to ensure similar wrongs do not take place in the future. When we walk into this building, the 1916 Proclamation hangs proudly before us. It proclaims to cherish "all the children of the nation equally". It is about time that the children's referendum which would enshrine in law the rights of the child is held as quickly as possible. The Minister will be aware that the Joint Committee on the Constitutional Amendment on Children unanimously agreed a formula of words, supported by the Minister when she was a member of the committee and by her Fine Gael colleagues. I remind the Minister that Sinn Féin and the Labour Party tabled a Private Members' Bill, supported by Fine Gael, which agreed a formula of words and called for the referendum to take place as quickly as possible. Senator van Turnhout welcomed that in a different capacity at the time. I ask the Minister to indicate when that referendum will take place.

I am mindful that legislation and constitutional protection only form part of the battle. We need to ensure there is the political will to translate a constitutional amendment into real change in children's services and in their lives. A constitutional amendment should serve to protect and enforce the legal, judicial, social and economic rights of children. As such it should discharge responsibility to Departments, and State bodies and agencies to vindicate the rights of children. While we can have a form of words, we need action and the most important thing is that the State vindicates the rights of children to ensure that parents no longer need to go to the courts to get what their children deserve as of right.

I am sure the Minister will be aware of the recent "Prime Time" programme that highlighted the effects that austerity and cutbacks are having on so many children especially the most vulnerable children. If she saw the programme she would have been moved by one of the parents of a severely disabled child who had to carry the child up the stairs for the child to have a bath. She will also be aware of the consequences of cutting back on carer's allowances and the effect it has on children. I raise these issues because when we debate the rights of children, it is important also to be cognisant of the obligations of law-makers and elected representatives to take into account that when we make decisions on budgets there are consequences for children if there are cutbacks, for example, in health and education.

During the years there have been many examples, including the Sinnott case, where parents have been forced to take the State to court to get what their children deserve as of right. Members alluded to how health services and other important services for children have failed children.

A very important report was published yesterday by the United Nations into the abuse of young women in Magdalene laundries. We are aware of all the reports that have been published on clerical sex abuse. All these abuses occurred in the past but I am sure the Minister will agree there is still abuse of children in this country and a denial of basic rights for children. This should not and must not happen.

I draw to the Minister's attention figures published by the One Child Foundation that highlighted how 500 children supposedly in State care have disappeared and how the HSE is unable to account for them. The foundation suggested some of these children have ended up in brothels and private households. There is a need for us to tackle the trafficking of children in the State. This is one of the recommendations in the report under discussion and it should be acted upon.

The Minister will be aware of the legacy of child sex abuse. Some of the abusers were moved to the North where the First Minister and the Deputy First Minister have commissioned an independent inquiry into various allegations. I ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs to give that inquiry her full support in order that the investigators can do their work properly.

I welcome the Minister and the opportunity to discuss these important issues with her.