Diarmuid Wilson (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I am honoured to welcome the Minister, Deputy Fitzgerald, back to a House with which she is very familiar, in particular as she returns with legislation for a referendum regarding a topic she continually raised when she was Leader of the Opposition in this House.

The country has been haunted in recent years by revelations of untold horror against children helpless to defend or protect themselves. This Oireachtas has had reports laid before it identifying indefensible gaps in the protections we can put in place to ensure the State's protection of children in such need. This proposed amendment to the Constitution gives us an opportunity to put all our heartfelt words into meaningful action. In addition to requiring protection and consideration of parental rights, it will oblige protection and consideration of children's rights.

A very clear purpose of the proposed amendment is to give practical and meaningful illustration to our intent that the Constitution gives explicit recognition to the rights of all our children to be heard, to be kept safe and protected and to have their best interests acted upon. It seeks to do this in a number of ways. It recognises the natural and imprescriptible rights of children. In those rare and exceptional but horrific cases where children are not safe in the care of their parents, the amendment will provide for the State to undertake proportionate intervention and, most importantly, to ensure the safety of the child. This, I hope, will help us to ensure that children are kept safe from the trauma and hurt experienced by those in the past. I am reluctant to cite specific situations or instances as each of these involve individuals who experienced unspeakable suffering and I have no wish to add to that suffering by causing them additional reliving and remembering. However, it is of paramount importance that we, as legislators, particularly in this House, never forget and that we are determined to strive to prevent such suffering from happening to others.

I welcome the recognition that State intervention must be proportionate but I remind the Minister respectfully that this increases the obligation of the State to ensure appropriate and timely support to parents who need it. Every year over 30,000 child protection and welfare concerns are reported and, of these, over 16,000 are child welfare concerns. Early intervention is essential. It is a reality that some people struggle with parenting for a variety of reasons but support and assistance at an early stage can result in families staying together, in the avoidance of more serious problems and in the avoidance of children being taken into care at a later stage. It can thus result in children not only being kept safe but in benefiting from a nurturing environment that supports their development into well adjusted and functioning citizens whose contributions make our country a better place.

Supporting families is essential to child protection. We must move away from viewing child protection services as reactive services for use in a time of crisis. Rather, it is essential we embrace the holistic concept of safeguarding, creating and supporting safe environments for our children and recognise that supporting families is an essential component of this safeguarding and is of the utmost necessity in effective and proactive child protection.

It is welcome that the Bill recognises children's interests are paramount in judicial and custody proceedings and that children's views in such matters must be heard and taken into account, having regard to the child's age and maturity. This is in keeping with the direction of previous legislation and changes that have occurred in practice in other areas, taking into account the views of children and having regard to their age and maturity.

It has been a matter of inexplicable sadness that for generations there were children in the care of the State who have missed the opportunity to grow up as members of a family and experience the joys and challenges of everyday family life that so many of us are lucky enough to take for granted. Under the Constitution, it is not possible for children whose parents are married to be adopted, as the Minister pointed out.

This has meant that children whose parents are not able for a variety of reasons to take care of them, live their childhoods in the care of the State or, if they are fortunate enough, in the care of loving foster families. All of us have heard the stories of foster families' efforts to adopt such children where loving bonds and relationships have been established and where there is a desire on the part of the child and foster family to have that relationship legally recognised and yet it is not permitted. Even in situations where the natural parents wish for their child to have the opportunity to be adopted, this is not permitted. I do not believe it was ever the intention of the Constitution's authors to condemn children to such lives and to miss out on being part of a living family. It is quite clear that the opposite was the case with importance being attached to families. I do not believe Irish people would want such a situation to continue.

It is welcome that this proposed amendment will provide opportunities for such children to grow up with the love of a family. We have been told by the Minister that there are more than 2,000 children for whom this could be made a possibility. We know that over the decades, thousands of children missed out on such opportunities. This amendment can make a very real difference. It demonstrates the potential of politics to be relevant and it is an example of how politics and politicians can work together to get it right.

As the Minister mentioned, the Oireachtas Joint Committee on the Constitutional Amendment on Children was established specifically to examine this area and identify the actions required to address difficulties being encountered. It was chaired by a former Minister and former Leader of this House, Mary O'Rourke, and its membership included the Minister, Deputy Fitzgerald, the Minister for Justice and Equality, Deputy Shatter, and members from all parties in both Houses, including former Senator Maria Corrigan, who worked together to bring forward three comprehensive all-party reports.

I welcome the fact the Minister has acted on this all-party work and brought it to the next step in holding the referendum. I welcome the wording proposed for the referendum which is based on the core principles published by this committee in February 2010. I take the opportunity to pay tribute to former Ministers, the late Brian Lenihan, Brendan Smith, my constituency colleague, and, in particular, Barry Andrews who worked very hard on pushing forward with the wording for this referendum, as the Minister has acknowledged on a number of occasions. At a later stage, the Oireachtas will give consideration to legislation, including the National Vetting Bureau (Children and Vulnerable Persons) Bill 2012, also emanating from the work of this committee, to further enhance the safety and protection of children.

This is a significant referendum in our short history as a country. It reflects our determination to learn from past tragedy and to take action to prevent its recurrence. I commend the Minister for her contribution but if she wanted to save time, her last four sentences would have summed up the referendum. It is a referendum which will help to treat all children equally by removing inequalities in adoption, protect children from abuse and neglect, support families and recognise children in their own right. This referendum should be fully supported by the people of this country. My party will fully support it and I wish the Minister and the officials in her Department, who worked so hard on this, well into the future.