FIANNA FÁIL backbencher Mary O'Rourke called on the Government to name the date for the referendum on children's rights. She said much work was done to establish goodwill towards the agreed wording, which she presumed would be accepted by the Cabinet.

"There will a long lead-in time in that regard and, consequently, the sooner we know the date of the referendum, even if it is in the medium term, the sooner we can all get back to work on the issue," she added.

Ms O'Rourke, who chaired an Oireachtas committee on the issue, was speaking during a debate on child welfare and protection services. It was not widely known, she added, that Minister of State for Children Barry Andrews had €3 million in his budget to hold the referendum.

Mr Andrews said: "When children are failed for whatever reason, they must be protected by society and the State must take on this role."

Fine Gael's Alan Shatter said it was now several weeks since the committee had published its report. "I find it extraordinary that not a single Minister has yet gone on record agreeing with the proposed constitutional amendment and that the Government has not confirmed a date for the holding of a referendum."

Labour's Joe Costello said that church and State had been found seriously wanting in the protection of children.

Not only had they been negligent, but in many cases they had colluded in the mistreatment and mismanagement of children.

"Eighty years or more after the foundation of the State, it is not good enough that there is no constitutional framework, outside a passing reference to their parents, to protect children or to consider their welfare," Mr Costello added.

A referendum, which would be followed by legislative provisions, had yet to be held.

Mr Costello said it was incredible to think that the entire paraphernalia built to provide a civilised society in Ireland, after the State's foundation, could not find a means of putting proper monitoring and supervising mechanisms in place.

This did not happen once or twice; it happened decade after decade between the 1930s and the 1980s.