Speech on the Thirty-First Amendment of the Constitution (Children) Bill

Go raibh maith agat a Leas-Cheann Comhairle. Táim buíoch as ucht an deis labhairt san díospóireact tabhachtach seo. In the words of Herbert Hoover, the 31st President of the United States of America, children are our most valuable natural resource. In the 80 years since those words were uttered the value of that statement has not changed and, if anything, society has a stronger realisation of its truth.

Yesterday I had occasion to visit a residential centre offering treatment for substance misuse to teenagers. I spoke with many of the professional staff who deal with the teenagers and I also spoke with the teenagers themselves. The message I took from my visit is the same as the Minister’s, which is the importance and need to suport families. The best way to protect children and to enshrine their rights is by supporting families because the family is the natural home for children and teenagers.

My own family, for all its function and dysfunction, has the privilege of welcoming and taking care of children who are in the care of the State. The experience of fostering children has highlighted many of the wonderful elements associated with caring for children but it has also highlighted for me the very necessary changes required to ensure the well-being of children.

A cursory glance at case law will show there is a need for serious reform at judicial level. The constitutional amendment, which it is hoped will be passed, will make it easier for the Judiciary to recognise the rights of the child. It will ensure that for the first time – ashamedly – the welfare and the well-being of the child will be paramount in all judicial proceedings.

The decisions of the Judiciary which often seem to be cold and clinical, fail to recognise the importance of the needs of the child. I look forward to the day when cases of children being put into care will be decided not in the courts but by a committee of competent persons qualified in the necessary welfare of children.

I refer to other worrying trends that have developed in the child care area. In my past experience as a teacher and currently as a parent and foster parent, I have noted a worrying development in some cases where there is a tendency to over-compensate for a lack of parenting skills by diagnosing and labelling our children. This is detrimental to our society and it will be harmful to our children in the future.

The best support to offer children is to support the family. Society needs to recognise the needs of parents. Not every parent possesses the parenting skills necessary to rear children and many of us lack the necessary resources and wherewithal to do so. If the State is to genuinely put the needs of children first the first step must be to support families. I look forward to us developing those strengths and the necessary parenting skills.