The Government is examining the possibility of "child-proofing" the Constitution, Minister for Children Brian Lenihan said yesterday. He said they were "looking at the various articles in the Constitution to see if they have an adverse impact on the welfare of children and if so, can they be child-proofed".
Mr Lenihan along with his Northern Ireland counterpart, Minister for Health Paul Goggins, yesterday addressed the first seminar of delegates from government and voluntary agencies from the Republic and Northern Ireland on cross-Border child protection.
The move has been welcomed by the ISPCC who said the Constitution is preventing some children who are being abused from seeking help.
Mr Lenihan defended the Government's performance on the issue of protecting the rights of children following anticipated criticism to be made by the United Nations tomorrow at a meeting with the Minister in Geneva.
He said he would tell the UN about the examination of the Constitution and it was a matter he has already raised. It would look at issues that have arisen in the past such as the C case, custody disputes and the issue of children in the criminal process.
"We really do need a branch-and-root examination of the Constitution," he added.
The chief executive of the ISPCC, Paul Gilligan, said such a review was called for by Judge Catherine McGuinness in the Kilkenny incest report in the early 1990s and "at the moment the Health Services Executive will not see a child without their parents' consent because of legal advice that to do so would be unconstitutional".