Blindness to two existing child-specific rights

The Guide [to the forthcoming referendum] cites one of two existing Constitutional rights of children, namely the corollary of Article 42.4: “The State shall provide for free primary education…” and the second child-specific right, which the Commission has chosen not to inform voters of, and which is, and has been shown to be relevant to voters.

It is the right of a child to attend any school which is in receipt of public funding without attending religious instruction there, and to do so in a manner which is not ‘prejudicial’ to that child.

This right is embedded in Article 44.4.2. Its omission is remarkable for several reasons: the situation which the Whittaker Commission on the Constitution found in schools (in 1996) was held by it to be unconstitutional; the Irish Human Rights Commission seminar on this matter in 2010, reported with findings and recommendations in April, 2011.