Published date: 29 Jan 2008

Tuesday 29 January 2008
UNDER EMBARGO UNTIL: 00.01hrs Wednesday 30 January 2008

CHILDREN’S RIGHTS – OVER THIRTY YEARS AND STILL WAITING

Pointing to the raft of commitments found in the Programme for Government and opposition parties’ manifestos, the Children’s Rights Alliance today (30 January) calls on the Government and opposition parties not to break their promises to place children at the centre of the Irish Constitution. On the day the Joint Committee on the Constitutional Amendment on Children continues its deliberations in private, the Alliance asks how many more generations of children will become adults before politicians prioritise their rights and needs.

The Alliance has found that the need for a constitutional amendment was raised by the former President Mary Robinson in 1976, over thirty years ago, during a debate on the Adoption Bill. At that time, she expressed her disappointment that a constitutional amendment on adoption only would ‘paper over some of the defects’ and would consequently fail to deliver ‘a broadbased reform of the law in line with the Charter on Children’s Rights’. The Alliance again calls on the Joint Committee to concentrate on the amendment’s wording and ensure children’s express rights are upheld in the Constitution.

Jillian van Turnhout, Chief Executive of the Alliance, says: ‘To think that, thirty years on, we continue to debate and long-finger the need for a wide-ranging referendum on children is shameful. Recent, premature demands to defer it again until 2009 or split it in time for the European Treaty loses sight of the real issue that this is not a theoretical exercise; rather it has the potential to have a real and positive impact on the lives of all children and their families, now and in the future. We’ve run out of time — the ‘Pope’s Children’ are all grown up and we have already failed two generations of children. We urge the members of the Joint Committee to maintain their focus on formulating a wording that will teach a new generation of children that once political promises are made, excuses do not necessarily follow.’

The Programme for Government states that ‘the fundamental law of our land should fully reflect our commitment to value and protect childhood’ and calls for ‘a new dedicated Article on Children’. The opposition parties have also backed constitutional change, with Fine Gael asserting that the ‘the issue of children’s rights’ ought to be ‘dealt with’ in order to ‘take account of changes in society and children’s rights’ and both Labour and Sinn Fein expressing the need to conform to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. The Alliance aims to ensure that these promises are not forgotten.

Mrs van Turhout adds: ‘It is the responsibility of the Joint Committee to ensure that today’s children, the ‘Pope’s Grandchildren’ if you will, are looked after properly. The Alliance believes the amendment should include express rights to ensure that children are recognised as individual rights-holders. Moreover, it needs to include a recognition of socio-economic rights for children, a non-discrimination provision to ensure all children are treated equally, that the ‘best interests of the child’ principle is upheld and that children are given a right to be heard in matters affecting them, in accordance with age and maturity. Ireland has already ratified the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child; we have waited long enough for its principles to be
recognised in our Constitution’.

___ENDS___

For further information, please contact:
Carys Thomas, Communications Director
Tel: (01) 662 9400 / 0877702845; Fax: (01) 662 9355
Email: [email protected]

Notes to Editor:

  • Please see attached note with relevant extracts from the Programme for Government and
    opposition manifestos, including extracts from debates in the 1970s.
  • The Alliance will publish its submission to the Committee on its website on 1 February
    2008 and will include a call for the Committee to go further than the 2007 Bill.

 

OIREACHTAS EXTRACT
Seanad Éireann – Volume 84 – 07 July, 1976 Adoption Bill, 1976: Second Stage (Resumed)

Mrs. Robinson: First, I would like to refer to the legal role of the board and indeed the possibility of
constitutional infirmity in the discharge of responsibilities by the board. I would hazard a guess that it is
this aspect that is higher on the priority of the Government in considering a constitutional amendment
than indeed the intention to insert some change in relation to safeguarding the welfare of the child. It is
an apprehension that the Adoption Board may not be constitutional under the present relevant sections
of our Constitution which is prompting the introduction of a Government Bill to amend the Constitution
which will necessitate a referendum in the autumn…
…This leads me to consider reaction to and, indeed, even to the contents of this present Adoption Bill. It
is a limited Bill to respond to a very serious tragedy and crisis in adoption in Ireland. But the reaction has
been very much to paper over some of the defects that I have been talking about, to paper over
examination of the more basic principles. If that is to be the response, then we are not going to have
an outcome of a broad-based reform of the law in line with the Charter on Children’s Rights which I
read out, or in line with the aspirations for a balanced adoption law and procedure

RELEVANT EXTRACTS FROM THE PROGRAMME FOR GOVERNMENT AND
OPPOSITION PARTIES’ MANIFESTOS
PROGRAMME FOR GOVERNMENT

Children

We will ensure that all of our children have the opportunity to enjoy childhood and develop to their full
potential.

Constitutional Amendment

We believe the fundamental law of our land should fully reflect our commitment to value and protect
childhood. That is why we have proposed the inclusion in our Constitution of a new dedicated Article on
Children. Under its provisions, the State will acknowledge and affirm the natural and imprescriptible
rights of all children. Nothing in our proposed article will undermine the role of parents. However, it
will ensure that the best interests of the child are put centre stage in the adoption and care systems and
in all custody disputes. Specifically, it will put an end to the tragic position that forbids children in longterm
care or the children of a marriage from being adopted by loving parents.

The new Article will also greatly strengthen the protection we afford children by permitting the carefully
regulated exchange of information about suspected child abusers and by allowing the Oireachtas to
introduce legislation which would make it impossible for those who take sexual advantage of children to
claim the defense of honest mistake about the age of their victims.

We will establish an all-party Committee to examine the proposed constitutional amendment with a
view to deepening consensus on this matter. We will continue through legislation to implement the
Convention on the Rights of the Child and ensure the remaining sections of the Children’s Act are
implemented in full, without delay. The proposed amendment to the Constitution will further
strengthen our ability to protect our children by allowing the Oireachtas to legislate for the exchange of
information about suspected child abusers. It will also allow for the creation of offences of absolute or
strict liability so that those who sexually abuse our children will no longer be able to claim mistake about
their victim’s age as a defence in court.

In addition, we will:

  • Provide extra resources to the Garda vetting service.
  • Develop an all-Ireland approach to child protection. We will put in place the necessary structures
    and systems to increase cooperation on vetting and the exchange of all relevant information about those who
    work or seek to work with children and vulnerable adults.

Our constitutional amendment will give children in long-term foster care a second chance by allowing
them to be adopted by their foster families if it is in their best interests.

GENERAL ELECTION MANIFESTO PROMISES

Fianna Fáil

We believe the fundamental law of our land should fully reflect our commitment to value and protect
childhood. That is why we have proposed the inclusion in our Constitution of a new dedicated Article on
Children. Under its provisions the State will acknowledge and affirm the natural and imprescriptible
rights of all children. Nothing in our proposed article will undermine the role of parents. However, it
will ensure that the best interests of the child are put centre stage in the adoption and care systems and
in all custody disputes. Specifically, it will put an end to the tragic position which forbids children in
long-term care or the children of a marriage from being adopted by loving parents.

On return to office, we will put our proposal to the people within one year.

The Green Party

Amend the Constitution to include the specific rights of children and implement the Convention on the
Rights of the Child into Irish legislation.

Progressive Democrats

The Progressive Democrats will bring forward comprehensive proposals designed to create a consensus
on the constitutional protection of children from sexual abuse, including the absolute zone of protection
for younger children.

Fine Gael

We will ensure that the issue of children’s rights is dealt with, by holding a referendum amending the
Constitution to take account of changes in society and children’s rights.

Labour

Labour shares the commitment of all political parties to put to the people, as a priority, an appropriate
constitutional amendment to enshrine in explicit form the rights of the child. The wording will reflect
the special vulnerabilities and dependencies of children and the consequent obligations owed to them,
both by their families and by the State, and will conform to the requirements of the UN Convention on
the Rights of the Child.

Sinn Fein

Amend the 1937 Constitution to expressly recognise children’s rights and to provide that the State must
guarantee that in all actions concerning children undertaken by or on behalf of the State the best
interests of the child shall be the primary consideration – thus bringing it into line with the standard
established by the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.