Children’s rights referendum must not give State too much power over Irish families says think tank
The State should not be given too much power over family life, the director of a ‘pro-family’ think tank has urged.
David Quinn of the Iona Institute was responding to the announcement by Tánaiste Eamon Gilmore that a referendum on children’s rights would take place this autumn.
“The Iona Institute has no objection to a children’s rights referendum as such,” said Quinn. “However, any amendment should not lower the threshold of intervention so much that the State is given too much power to intervene in family life. This is the case in countries such as Canada.”
He noted that the “failings” revealed in the recent report into the death of some 200 young people in the care of the State “can best be solved by proper resourcing of our child protection service and by proper accountability when there is a serious child protection failing.
“Britain does not have a written constitution and no definition of the family but this does not prevent very serious child protection failings happening there.”
Quinn added that it is “crucial that we get the constitutional balance right. If the threshold of intervention is arguably too high at present, we must not make it too low.”
