Sinn Féin will support stand- alone referendum - Morgan

Speaking during the joint Sinn Féin/Labour PMB on children’s rights tonight, Sinn Fein’s Arthur Morgan TD said that the party would support a stand alone referendum on children’s rights. He said the issue was so important that he believed opposition parties would support an immediate referendum without calling for by-elections on the same day.
Deputy Morgan said:
“The Bill to hold a referendum on children’s rights is long overdue. The fact that there is such a poor approach to children in every statutory body is testament to this. In the area of child protection in my own constituency of Louth, I am aware of at least one out-of-hours GP co-op that does not ensure that the locum doctors they employ are vetted by the Garda Síochána.
In Dáil questions that my colleage Deputy Caoimhghín Ó Caolain has submitted, the Minister for Health and Children, and the HSE have absolutely refused to give a straight answer as to whether they vetted all of their employees that work with or have access to children.
It is this sort of information that is particularly worrying for the people of Louth considering it was in that county that the Health Board allowed Dr. Shine to operate freely in Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Drogheda while being well aware of the allegations that had been made against him. Such inertia could allow another Dr. Shine type situation to develop.
The Irish government signed the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child in 1990 and ratified it in 1992. This ratification committed the State to promote, protect and fulfil the rights of children as outlined in the articles of the UN CRC. A constitutional amendment is one of the ways we need to do that.
There is cross-party agreement and support for the proposed amendment wording. The Government has no excuse to put this on the back-burner. Let the referendum take place.”ENDS
Full speech to follow:
Yesterday the Tánaiste Mary Coughlan stated that it was her personal view that the referendum on children’s rights was very important and should be a stand-alone referendum, not held on the same day as by-elections. I welcome that statement and I hope it is more than a personal view, that it is shared by her Government colleagues.
Let me say to the Government on behalf of Sinn Féin that we will not press for the by-elections to be held on the same day as the referendum. The referendum should have a clear run. All the issues need to be clearly explained and properly debated. There is no good reason why that should not happen this year.
So I call on the Government to accept the good will of the opposition parties, the parties with whom its members worked closely on the Joint Committee on the Constitutional Amendment on Children, and to proceed to implement the agreed recommendations. Put the agreed wording to the people in a referendum and do it this year.
Minister of State Barry Andrews said in his speech last night that that we were “never closer” to a referendum. How close is closer? How long is a piece of string? We need certainty, not such vague re-assurances. I note also that the Minister changed his script. The script talked of a referendum which ‘may follow’ but Minister Andrews in his delivery changed it to ‘will follow’. Does that indicate unwillingness on the part of the Minister’s officials to commit in any way to a referendum? The Minister should ignore such attitudes and he should follow the advice of the Committee of which he was a key member.

The Bill to hold a referendum on children’s rights is long overdue. The fact that there is such a poor approach to children in every statutory body is testament to this. In the area of child protection in my own constituency of Louth, I am aware of at least one out-of-hours GP co-op that does not ensure that the locum doctors they employ are vetted by the Garda Síochána.
In Dáil questions that my colleage Deputy Caoimhghín Ó Caolain has submitted, the Minister for Health and Children, and the HSE have absolutely refused to give a straight answer as to whether they vetted all of their employees that work with or have access to children.
It is this sort of information that is particularly worrying for the people of Louth considering it was in that county that the Health Board allowed Dr. Shine to operate freely in Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Drogheda while being well aware of the allegations that had been made against him. Such inertia could allow another Dr. Shine type situation to develop.
When children are placed in residential care facilities after being removed from risky situations, they are subject to further risk – these facilities do not receive independent and thorough inspections. Legislation must be enacted to ensure this happens. When children are in the care of the state, social work provision is patchy or non-existent. We have recently seen a case where a child was left overnight in an internet cafe due to a lack of facilities.
Children are still sleeping in Garda stations. There are no therapeutic facilities in this state for children with severe difficulties, and the HSE sees fit to export them to facilities overseas rather than providing for them here, where they can be near their families. This is not the story of a state that can say it respects or upholds the rights of children.
We do not even know the full extent of the problems faced. The Children’s Acts Advisory Board has noted that HSE data is challenging when trying to make year on year comparisons. Published data is incomplete even though it isn’t published for between nine and 18 months after the fact.
Very often there are no separate facilities for children with intellectual disabilities, and where there are facilities they are often inadequate. I am aware of cases in one facility in my constituency for children with intellectual disabilities where adults in the adjoining facility have wandered into the building. This is highly inappropriate. This same facility is in need of massive refurbishment as well as extra staff. In the meantime, the Government have felt it appropriate to make massive cuts in education across the board, with Special Needs Assistants being cut leading to severe effects on the schools efficiency and ability to deliver for children.
The Irish government signed the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child in 1990 and ratified it in 1992. This ratification committed the State to promote, protect and fulfil the rights of children as outlined in the articles of the UN CRC. A constitutional amendment is one of the ways we need to do that.
There is cross-party agreement and support for the proposed amendment wording. The Government has no excuse to put this on the back-burner. Let the referendum take place.