Children’s groups welcome proposed Constitutional amendment

THERE was a broad welcome for the proposed constitutional amendment enshrining the rights of the child yesterday.

Child law expert Dr Ursula Kilkelly, of UCC’s Law Faculty said the proposed change to the Constitution had the potential to be hugely significant and had been “tightly worded”. “It would appear to be setting down a new benchmark for how the State treats children,” Dr Kilkelly said.

The wording also had the potential to impact on areas such as migration, she said, in that the stress on the rights of the child would now have to be taken into account in cases where, for example, an Irish-born child’s mother has been deported.