IRELAND
Herald
Friday November 09 2012
Q What is the Referendum about?
AVoters are being asked to agree to a new Article 42A. The Government says the Amendment is needed to recognise children in their own right within the Constitution. It contains five key parts which you are being asked to pass or reject in a single question.
Those in favour say it will protect children, support families and treat all children equally.
Children already have constitutional rights, but if the wording is passed, the Constitution will, for the first time, contain explicit fundamental rights provisions for them.
Q Why is change to the Constitution necessary?
AThe Constitution is the fundamental law of our State. A change to it will ensure more child-centred laws and influence judicial decisions into the future.
For decades we have had a legacy of failing Irish children. Expert groups over the past 20 years, ranging from the Kilkenny Incest Investigation of 1993 to the Joint Committee on the Constitutional Amendment on Children (2010), have urged dedicated provisions for children in the Constitution. If adopted, the change will introduce an explicit statement to protect and vindicate the rights of children.
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