Marie Moloney (Labour) | Oireachtas source

There is not a lot left for me to say after that because Senator van Turnhout has covered everything in minute detail. When I first saw this amendment, I had my doubts and reservations. However, I sat down and thought about it at length. As with Senator van Turnhout's mother, I guess the wooden spoon was very prominent in my house as well. Thankfully, I never had to use it because all I had to do was lift it and the children scattered and said they would not risk taking a whack of it. I used to send my son up to his room but I found out later in life that he was delighted with this because he loved to read and be on his own. He did not see it as a punishment and thought it was great because he had the place to himself and was happy up there. My daughter was different. She would have loved to be down in the thick of things and did not like to be sent to her room.

My granddaughter, who is nearly two, goes to a child minder. I would hate to think that the child minder would slap her - it would absolutely gut me. I wonder why we feel like that, why we feel that somebody else cannot hit a child but a parent can hit or slap their child. Where do we draw the line between reasonable chastisement and what is more physical and violent? It is best if we get rid of it altogether. There is no need to slap children. There are other ways of doing this, such as sending them to their room, stopping them from watching a favourite television programme or something they would not like done to them. There are ways of doing this without the use of physical violence.

I very much support Senator van Turnhout's amendment. I hope the Minister, who is in a position to accept the amendment, will see matters her way. If we were in school and a child hit another child, we would call that bullying. However, it is not seen as bullying when a parent slaps their child in the home. We have to distinguish once and for all whether it is wrong or right for a parent to hit his or her child.

The European Committee of Social Rights has ruled that Ireland and Slovenia are in violation of the European Social Charter because all corporal punishment of children is not prohibited. Some 28 Council of Europe member states have prohibited corporal punishments in all settings, including the family home. In the case of Ireland, the repeated findings by the committee highlight there has been no development towards ensuring children's legal protection from corporal punishment for the past 12 years. This has been going on for quite some time and nobody has done anything about it. In fairness to Senator van Turnhout, she has raised the issue and put forward the amendment. She has already said Deputy Reilly is a caring Minister who has worked hard on behalf of children since he took over as Minister for Children and Youth Affairs. Everyone in the House will acknowledge that fact. I hope he will be able to accept this amendment by Senator van Turnhout and not put any of us in a position to have to vote against it.