No date for children’s referendum

THE Government was last night unable to say if the referendum to strengthen constitutional protections for children will take place before the election, despite giving it the go-ahead.

At its weekly meeting yesterday, the Governmentdecided to publish the bill proposing an amendment to the Constitution.

The bill will be published by Taoiseach Bertie Ahern next Monday along with an outline of the new laws to be introduced if the Constitution is passed.

The proposal was brought to Cabinet by Children’s Minister Brian Lenihan who said the changes will considerably strengthen the rights of children in adoption, guardianship, custody and access situations.

In addition, the seven propositions contained in the bill will give new legal authority to agencies — including gardaí, education authorities, youth and sporting organisations — that will allow them exchange so-called “soft information” on adult volunteers or employees who may pose risks in relation to sexual abuse.

Crucially, the bill will address loopholes exposed by the CC case last year which struck laws downbecause they didn’t contain a defence of honest mistake.

A zone of absolute protection for children from sexual predation is proposed. However, the Government will not specify the actual age at this stage, saying it will wait until it publishes the legislation.

Mr Lenihan accepted last night that the speed with which the process took place depended on the level of cooperation received from the opposition.

The opposition haveexpressed broad support for all seven measures but said they will need to see theactual wording before they can offer the bill support.

However, if the bill is not published by Easter, it isunlikely a referendum could take place before the general election. Mr Ahern does not want both polls to take place on the same day.

Jim O’Keeffe of Fine Gael and Brendan Howlin of Labour have complained that they will be giveninsufficient time to study fundamental and complex changes. The Green Party and Sinn Féin have indicated the proposed changes do not go far enough.

The changes are wide- ranging and will lead to four areas of legislation being amended: sexual offences, adoption, childcare and guardianship of infants.