Rónán Mullen (Independent) | Oireachtas source

It is not only because Senator Hayden referred to me in the past few seconds that I chose to intervene, but it brought home to me how little she understands my motivation. When I met the former Minister of State, Barry Andrews, to tease out some of the issues, get answers and make certain proposals, I said I was not a fan of the proposed wording that the State shall cherish all the children of the State equally, for reasons I have already gone into, and that it imported the concept of the State as parent in a way that was likely to be unpredictable in terms of its meaning. I recall saying to him as well that instead of the word ?concerning?, with regard to the adoption, guardianship, custody or access to any child, I would have preferred the word ?affecting?, because I was conscious at the time that there might be other kinds of proceeding in which children are affected and it seemed to me to be right and proper that the best interests of the child would be taken into account as the paramount consideration in those situations. One thinks of divorce and separation proceedings, for example. There are many other types of proceeding which involve an impact on children. For that reason I am inclined to support a widening such as that intended by Senator Ó Clochartaigh. I see that as being in no way contradictory to what I said previously because it has never been the intention to narrow down the issues in which children's best interests should be taken into account as the paramount consideration.

For me, the issue has always been the point at which the State is under a duty to intervene, at what point it is in the best interests of children that it do so. With that preface, I support what Senator Ó Clochartaigh proposed.