Unravelling the puzzle of motives behind children’s referendum

I would like to thank Sarah Opperman (Irish Examiner, Nov 6) for — perhaps unwittingly — providing one explanation of the motives behind the upcoming children’s referendum.

I had been for some time trying to puzzle out the need for this referendum, as the Irish Constitution seemed already to provide rather good protection, and the State to have all the legal apparatus required to rescue children from situations where they were in real danger.

The fact that it has failed to do so on occasion in the past seemed more a question of resources than law. But now it has been laid clear for me, where Ms Opperman writes “[the State] fails to vindicate the rights of marital children, with the Adoption Act making it hugely difficult for children of married parents to be adopted”. So a ‘yes’ vote will help weaken the institution of marriage in yet another key area, an institution on which society is ultimately based. The State will have wide powers to enforce the adoption of children even from married parents.

While it may also seem laudable to include the views of the child in such forced adoptions, we must remember this will be a vulnerable child, separated from its parents and under the ‘care’ and influence of total strangers – social workers, the judicial system, all of which, through the Family Law Courts, operates under such a cloak of secrecy that even reporting that a particular family law case is taking place constitutes ‘contempt of court’. A child may thus be forcibly separated from its parents, placed for adoption by the State and all without the family having any redress or the public having even a whisper that any of this is happening. Had this been taking place in the former Soviet Union we would have condemned it outright.

Ms Opperman urges ‘the youth of Ireland’ to come out and vote for this nightmare. Perhaps she realises the older generation can see through the charade. But ironically, it will be the youth who have most to suffer from a yes vote.

It is the youth of today who run the risk of having their children forcibly taken from them and placed into adoption when their time comes, should this referendum pass. I will most certainly be voting ‘no’.

Nick Folley

Carrigaline

Co Cork