Mark Daly (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The thirty-first amendment to the Constitution affords rights to children and gives them protection that heretofore has often been sadly missing in our society, as the Minister well knows. The amendment gives effect to the line in the Proclamation which states we should cherish all the children of the nation equally. It is appropriate also that the date for the referendum is the birth date of Pádraig Pearse, one of the signatories of the Proclamation which remains timeless and universal in its aims and objectives.

I wish the Minister well in the referendum. She has put in a great deal of hard work on this with her officials in recent months and although we are debating the wording, the objectives and the spirit of the amendment must be welcomed. It is great to see such cross-party support for the thirty-first amendment.