On November 10th the Irish people will have the opportunity to go to the polls and do something historic.
They can vote for or against an amendment to the Constitution that proposes to treat children as individuals in their own right, for the first time in this Republic of Ireland.
It is 20 years since Ireland ratified the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. In the coming months, the Government hopes to submit Ireland’s update-report on implementation of this Convention to the UN. I believe it is fair to say, that Ireland has been making process in the last 18months.
But in that 20 years before, we have seen a litany of reports each more disturbing, more heart-scalding than the next.
17 damning indictments of the failure of society and politics to guarantee the safety of our children.
As a politician and as a father I decided ‘enough now no more’.
It was clear that as a country, we needed to move from ignorance, inactivity and inertia to action, assistance and careful intervention.
On coming to Office, I appointed a full Cabinet Minister for Children for the first time.
I was and remain of the view that the children of this country deserved rather more than luck for their safety.
They must be able to rely on more than ‘happy faults’ to secure their innocence, their integrity, their future itself.
And moreover, I and the government wanted to make this not just their social entitlement but their Constitutional right.
This is quantum change in a society where for too long children were seen and not heard.
The best place for our children is within a loving and supportive home. This referendum does not seek to change this.
But time and again we see cases where the family - for whatever reason - has failed or is unable to protect the child.
And not only that, but that the family itself - as in the Roscommon case - is the most dangerous, damaging place for a child or children to be.
I want to allay the fears of good parents that this will be a charter for trespass into their families’ lives.
It will not.
Since taking office, Minister Fitzgerald and the government have been working on the wording of the Amendment.
Many Members of this House have worked hard over many years towards this day. The work of the All Party Joint Oireachtas Committee on the Constitutional Amendment on Children has been an invaluable contribution; equally the efforts and contribution of campaigners, organisations and professionals who work with children and members of the legal profession has to be acknowledged.
The Bill before the House today proposes a new stand alone article, 42A, titled ‘Children’, which will contain a series of provisions and will be put to the people as one, single, question for their approval.
This proposed Constitutional amendment firms part of our wider and urgent reform agenda.
In terms of child protection, specifically, we have introduced a wide range of reforms through the Withholding of Information Act, the publication of Children First Bill (which will put Children First National Guidelines for child protection on a statutory basis) and National Vetting Bureau Bill.
Child protection and support services are having a radical, long-overdue and much-needed overhaul through the establishment of a new Child and Family Support Agency.
Each of these reforms is vital.
But as Minister Fitzgerald emphasised last night, none of these reforms can have the wide-ranging and permanent effect of the Constitutional change proposed.
The government is committed - as we did with the European Stability Referendum earlier this year - to ensuring that the Irish people have all the information they need to make an informed decision on the 10th of November.
An information website – www.childrensreferendum.ie – has been set up by the Department of Children. It provides information on this constitutional amendment as well as details of the wider reform programme underway in the area of child protection.
A government information booklet will also be sent to every household in the country in advance of polling day and will outline the proposed wording and the background to it.
This proposed referendum offers a child a second chance of a family.
The wording removes the inequalities in our adoption law today.
Minister Frances Fitzgerald highlighted to the House last night that there are approximately 6250 children in care placements at present, with more than 5,500 of these children in foster families. So already the focus in on family care.
Over 2,000 of these children have been with the same family for over five years. This legislation may offer them the opportunity to create an even stronger family bond.
Every day all over Ireland parents put their own fears and worries aside to give their sons and daughters the best, the most secure, respected and loving, life they can.
Even in the most difficult circumstances.
Our children are our most precious possession.
I firmly believe that every child - regardless of the random matter of their birth - should be allowed not just to feel valued,
But to bevalued under the law as the invaluable, irreplaceable beings they are.
I am very proud that to stand here, as Taoiseach, speaking on a proposal to amend our basic law to say that:
“The State recognises and affirms the natural and imprescriptible rights of all children and shall, as far as practicable, by its laws protect and vindicate those rights.”
I would urge everyone – in particular the parents of this country and others tasked with the safety of our children – to make every effort to inform themselves on what this referendum is all about.
Knowledge is power.
And I urge you to use your power as democrats to come out and make a resounding statement in favour of the children of this country now and in the generations to come.
The wording here is careful cautious.
It is formed from cross-party concern and with cross-party support.
We have heard some of the most thoughtful speeches in this House on it. We look forward to hearing more.