THE GOVERNMENT is unlikely to hold a planned referendum on children’s rights this year due to concerns over how the wording of an amendment to the Constitution would affect several key policies.
There are fears bolstering children’s rights could prevent the deportation of parents unlawfully in the State and entitle children faced with expulsion from schools to legal representation.
Minister for Children Barry Andrews said yesterday no final decision on the timing of the long-promised referendum had been made because of potential problems flagged up by different Government departments. But he identified three key issues in the fields of justice, health and education, which have to be resolved before the final wording of an amendment could be put to the public.
“I’ve always said the timing of the referendum is not of the highest significance to me. What is significant is to ensure that it is done right,” said Mr Andrews, who shrugged off criticism that the Government is dragging its feet on a referendum date because of the three pending byelections.
“There is a fear that with the whole political system concentrating on three byelections and possibly a mayoral election that the focus will be taken off the children’s rights referendum. So there may well be an argument to have it separately,” he added.
Last week Fianna Fáil TD Mary O’Rourke, who chaired the Oireachtas Committee on the Constitutional Amendment on Children, said the referendum should be held “as quickly as possible”. She said the proposed wording may have to be “tweaked” and warned if the rights’ referendum wasn’t held now “the time would be lost”.
Speaking at the launch of new standards for youth workers, Mr Andrews said he felt the Government was close to a political consensus on the wording. But he said changes to the wording proposed by the committee may now have to go further than the “tweaking” suggested by Ms O’Rourke and various NGOs for the amendment.
He said the proposed wording in relation to the “best interests of children being of paramount consideration” may make it impossible to deport an individual with a child in the country. There are currently several appeals against deportations made by failed asylum seekers with Irish citizen children pending in the courts.
A second problem highlighted by the Department of Education relates to a so-called “voice of the child” provision in the wording, which it fears could entitle children facing expulsion from schools to legal representation.
A third concern highlighted by the Department of Health relates to a “continuity of care provision”, which it fears could potentially result in inappropriate foster care placements being continued. This could arise if judges invoked the clause to justify a continuing care placement even when other concerns have been raised, such as a lack of proper vetting procedure.
The delay to agreeing the wording of an amendment means it is highly unlikely that a children’s rights referendum can be held this year. The Cabinet does not meet again until September 1st and the independent Referendum Commission usually sits for at least 12 weeks before a vote, meaning a December poll date would be the earliest opportunity.
Fine Gael spokesman on children’s rights Charlie Flanagan called for “urgent clarification” on the matter. “Every day that goes by without a date being set for the referendum is failing vulnerable children. It is no use having Minister Andrews wringing his hands over the Ryan report while failing to protect today’s children from abuse,” he said.
Meanwhile Mr Andrews also launched a new national quality standards framework for youth work designed to standardise and improve the quality of youth services for young people. He also published guidelines for addressing homophobia in the youth sector – one of the most common forms of harassment for young people.
A recent research study by Trinity College Dublin – Supporting Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Lives– found half of young lesbian and gay people have experienced verbal homophobic bullying and a quarter were physically threatened by their peers.