Children’s rights are a constitutional issue

HISTORY repeated itself again last week with the Supreme Court ruling on statutory child rape. Significant childcare law and policy developments in Ireland have resulted primarily from external criticism from the UN and within from child abuse inquiries.

The reactive approach to the Supreme Court ruling, despite the knowledge of the 1990 Law Reform Commission report, highlights the low priority of children in our society.

We’re still a long way from an integrated and proactive approach to children’s welfare.

When will we have the reforms so urgently needed to enshrine children’s rights in our constitution?

As Gabriela Mistral, the Nobel Prize-winning Chilean poet, said: “Many things we need can wait, the child cannot... To him we cannot say tomorrow. His name is today.”

Dr Debby Lynch and Kenneth Burns

Social Work Development Unit

Department of Applied Social Studies

University College Cork