Decision on children’s referendum due in autumn

The Minister for Children has said that there is now a very strong case for a referendum on children's rights.

Barry Andrews was reacting to the findings of yesterday's report into the abuse of children at State-run institutions going back to 1936.

It said abuse of children was endemic, and that sexual abuse of boys in the Artane Industrial School in Dublin and Letterfrack, Co. Galway, was a chronic problem.

Minister Andrews said a formal decision on a Referendum may be known in the autumn.