David Cullinane (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

First and foremost, I commend the Minister on bringing forward this Bill. It is a good day for Ireland and the State that the passage of the Bill before us through the Houses is reaching its conclusion. I sat on the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health and Children for the first two years in which I served in the Seanad and it was an issue the Minister constantly supported and raised. He received full co-operation in respect of it from my party, as well as cross-party support and support from the Independent groupings and that has helped us reach the position at which we have arrived today. I also commend Senator van Turnhout on her eloquent contribution. Her tabling of these amendments, which the Minister has accepted, means this is a good day for the Seanad and for governance in this State. It is far too often the case that what we are witnessing today does not happen because although reasonable amendments are tabled, they are not accepted as a result of the fact that they are put forward by the Opposition. I am pleased that on this occasion the amendments before the House are being accepted.

It also is important to state that we have come a long way during the past 30 years in how we deal with issues pertaining to children's rights. This culminated in the referendum which, again, my party supported. It was fantastic to see that referendum proposal being passed, even though many people, for all sorts of spurious reasons, did not support it. I am proud Sinn Féin supported it. I am glad that the Opposition and Government parties which supported the referendum proposal on a collective basis managed to get it over the line.

In many respects, this Bill flows from that referendum outcome and strengthens the safeguarding of children. It puts key elements of the Children First: National Guidance for the Protection and Welfare of Children of 2011 on a statutory footing. It also introduces mandatory reporting of child protection concerns for key groups of people that provide services to children.Many thousands of children in this State and across the island have been abused. Many of them were failed by organisations and the State. We have all learned many valuable lessons on how we deal with those issues. That is for the good of all concerned.

I welcome the important amendments to remove the defence of reasonable chastisement from the Statute Book. It is a good day for the State. I will not say what year I was in because that might give away who the teacher was but in one of the years when I was in primary school, we had a teacher who had a long stick and who used it occasionally to smack all of the children in the class. There was only one teacher in the entire school at that time who used the stick. Fortunately, that does not happen any more. That shows we are progressing all the time.

Reference was made to parents who smack or use a correction to chastise a child. I have two children, one of whom is aged eight and the other is four. They can be very trying at times, like anyone else's children. They try my patience but I have never once raised my hand to either of my children and I never will. However, I will not demonise people who see it as valid to give a child a slight smack. I do not agree with it; it is wrong. What we need to do is to deal with it in legislation to make sure that it is not right and that we send out a message collectively from the Oireachtas that we do not tolerate such behaviour any more. While a person might consider it to be the right thing for him or her to do, that he or she is not doing anything wrong or that this is the way he or she wishes to chastise his or her child, it does not work, it is not right and it is not fair. We have all seen parents in pubs or at open air events give a child of two or three years of age a smack. That is most unfair and it is not the way we should chastise children when they do wrong.

I commend the Minister on the significant work he has done. He should be commended on this personal achievement. The Government should also be commended, as should all of the Senators who have done their own work on it. I single out Senator van Turnhout and I commend her on the really good job she has done, given her experience and what she has brought to the Seanad on children's rights issues.