The Irish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (ISPCC) agrees that the upbringing of children is, in most cases, best left to the parents, and that the various family support services should assist, and not supplant, parents in this vital nurturing task.
However, the jailing of a Roscommon father for 12-and-a-half years for systematic sexual abuse and rape of his son – following on the seven-year jail sentence give to the boy’s mother last year on 10 counts of incest, sexual abuse and neglect – shows that blind adherence to the doctrine of the “inalienable” rights of parents can sometimes result in horrific suffering for children.
This shocking case brought into stark reality the fact that the best interests of the children came into play far too late, and that concerned child welfare and welfare personnel were defeated by the unqualified primary rights of parents as currently enshrined in our Constitution.
The reality is that our most fundamental law upheld the right of these abusive and dysfunctional parents to retain control of their children, despite ongoing abuse and the growing knowledge of that fact by various care workers.
Six small children were left to suffer a litany of abuse for years after these concerns about their neglect were first reported. It was to be eight long years before these vulnerable and violated children were finally taken into care.
While the then Western Health Board did seek to place the children in care in 2000, this was prevented by a High Court injunction that was grounded in the Constitutional right of parents as the primary carers of their children.
While the true scale of the neglect, physical abuse and incest perpetrated on these children only came to light following their eventual placement in care in 2004, serious questions must be asked as to why they were left in such an appalling environment for so long.
Sadly, we’ve been here before. There have been other shocking child neglect and abuse cases and indeed, failures to provide adequate supports and protection for children in the care of the state down the years that also gave rise to a chorus of calls for a Constitutional amendment. We have had the various reports of residential child abuse, the Kilkenny Incest Inquiry Report and the Kelly Fitzgerald Inquiry Report, among others – all graphic examples of how we have failed children.
We must now ensure there are no more Roscommon-like horror stories. The ISPCC, along with numerous other voluntary child protection and child welfare organisations, has been campaigning for many years for the fullest vindication of children’s rights in the Constitution.
That is why we warmly welcomed the recently published recommendations by the Joint Committee on the Constitutional Amendment on Children, which incorporates an all-party agreement on the wording of an amendment to the Constitution to strengthen children’s rights.
The rights of children must be recognised as those of separate individuals, and their right to protection from any form of abuse must be strengthened. What parent does not want this level of protection for their child?
Ashley Balbirnie
CEO, ISPCC
