Constitutional Referendum on Children
Following on from Ireland’s Second Report on the implementation of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (July, 2005), the Ferns Report (October, 2005) and the All-Party Oireachtas Committee on the Constitution Tenth Progress Report: The Family (January, 2006), in November, 2006 the Government announced its intention to hold a Constitutional Referendum on children. The Minister for Children initiated a process of consultation and discussion with the other Parliamentary parties and with all relevant groups, with the aim of achieving consensus on the wording of an appropriate amendment regarding the place of children in the Constitution. The aim was to find a wording that would reflect the desire of the Irish people to establish robust safeguards for all children and that enshrines the very highest possible standards for the protection of children.
Government publishes the wording on the Constitutional Amendment on Children
The Government published the Twenty-eighth Amendment of the Constitution Bill, 2007 in February 2007. It can be downloaded below. The Bill contains the Government’s proposals to amend the Constitution in respect of children.
- Press Release (Word doc)
- Speech (Word doc)
- Briefing note on proposed amendment
- Outline of Legislative Proposals
- Speech by An Taoiseach on publication of 28th Amendment of the Constitution
- Twenty-eighth Amendment of the Constitution Bill 2007
Joint Committee on the Constitutional Amendment on Children
Following on from a commitment in the June 2007 Programme for Government to deepen consensus on the Twenty Eighth Amendment of the Constitution Bill 2007, the Joint Committee on the Constitutional Amendment on Children was established in November 2007 to report back within four months, on the proposals to amend the Constitution set out in the Bill.
In 2008 the Dáil and Seanad approved extensions to the Committee’s timescale. The Committee will now report by 9th April 2009. To view the terms of reference of the Committee please click here.
Advertisements inviting written submissions to the Committee on the proposals to amend the constitution contained in the Twenty Eighth Amendment of the Constitution Bill 2007 were placed in national and provincial papers in mid December and the closing date for receipt of submissions was extended to 18th February, 2008. For more information please click here.
On 11 September 2008 the Committee presented an Interim Report to the Oireachtas recommending that the Government should prepare and publish legislation to be brought before the Houses of the Oireachtas to establish a statutory scheme:
- for the vetting of all persons involved in working in any capacity with children;
- for the statutory regulation of the manner in which information in relation to records of criminal prosecutions, criminal convictions and ‘soft’ information may be collated, exchanged and deployed by An Garda Siochana or other Statutory Agencies for the purpose of ensuring the highest standards of child protection within the State; and
- to require that all agencies, organisations, bodies, clubs, educational and childcare establishments and groups working with or involved with children ensure that all of those working under their aegis either in a paid or voluntary capacity with children are subject to vetting.
The Government awaits the outcome of the deliberations of the Joint Committee on the Constitutional Amendment on Children on the remaining issues being considered by it before proceeding further.
For more information on the meetings of the Joint Committee on the Constitutional Amendment on Children please click here.
