Lorraine Higgins (Labour) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister, Deputy Frances Fitzgerald, to the House to debate the constitutional change that is necessary to enshrine the protection of children in Bunreacht na hÉireann. I commend her and her departmental officials on all the great work they have done to ensure it was a priority for the Government from the very beginning of its term. I also acknowledge the role played in this regard by a Galway man, Mr. Geoffrey Shannon, the Government's special rapporteur on child protection.

There has been much scaremongering and faux philosophising about this proposal from a conservative sector of Irish society. All such misinformation must be quelled in the interests of protecting children. The reality is that the amendment is necessary and that the deficiencies in existing constitutional and legislative provisions have facilitated terrible emotional, psychological and physical atrocities to be committed against children throughout the country. Such abuse has decimated families, the very social unit given special protection in the Constitution. Despite claims from some quarters, this proposal is not part of some nanny state agenda. Rather, the amendment seeks to ensure that the horrific failings evident in cases such as the incest scandals which wracked the west in recent years, particularly the Sligo and Roscommon cases, will be ameliorated if not avoided. The lives of the children in these cases were destroyed by the actions of one or other parent and the inaction of the State. Moreover, the cases that have come to our attention are undoubtedly a mere drop in the ocean - I am sure there are episodes of child abuse which will never see the light of the day. The inability of the State to intervene in such circumstances shows a crystal-clear failing in our legislative armour. We must create the right legislative conditions to ensure that cases such as those to which I referred can never again arise. This amendment seeks to achieve that end and, as such, deserves to be welcomed and not countered.

It is clear from a literal interpretation that the wording of the amendment has struck a good balance between the rights of children to be protected and the rights of parents. Parents' rights are not undermined by this legislation, save where they have failed their children. It is imperative that the State has rights to intervene in exceptional cases, "exceptional" being the key word. There were far too many instances in the not too distant past where the well-being of children was ignored as a consequence of the glaring absence of legislative provision in Irish law to protect this most vulnerable section of our society. Under the new provision, the State will be duty bound to ensure any intervention is undertaken in a proportionate manner, as provided by law, and the onus will be on the State to prove it is taking adequate measures in this regard.

The amendment ensures there is no ambiguity in regard to children's rights. It will be a matter of law, as set out in the Constitution, which is the highest law in this country. The new provision will permit the State to protect children as children, without having to have recourse to their parents. As we saw in the abuse cases in Sligo and Roscommon, parents are sometimes their children's greatest enemy. I commend the proposal to the House and strongly urge a "Yes" vote in the referendum on Saturday, 10 November.