In 2004 the All-Party Oireachtas Committee on the Constitution (APOCC) engaged in a study of
the constitutional provisions relating to the family in Bunreacht na h-Éireann. As part of the process it sought submissions
from political parties, interested organisations, and the public and the deadline for these submissions was 31st January 2005.
While organisations
could decide on their own priorities the APOCC, in its briefing, cited the following areas as examples of some of issues that
might need to be tackled:
• how should the family be defined?
• how should one strike the balance between the rights of the family
as a unit and the rights of individual members?
• is it possible to give constitutional protection to families other
than those based on marriage?
• should gay couples be allowed to marry?
• is the Constitution's reference to the woman's 'life within the home'
a dated one that should be changed?
• should the rights of a natural mother have express constitutional protection?
• what rights should a natural father have, and how should they be protected?
• should the rights of the child be given an expanded constitutional
protection?
• does the Constitution need to be changed in view of the UN Convention
on the Rights of the Child?
Following the receipt of submissions from a wide range of organisations the APOCC held oral hearings
in April 2005 and their report was published in January 2006.
The report was a complete political cop-out. It failed utterly to deal with the complex issues with
which it was faced and, incomprehensibly, recommended no change to the constitution with regard to the family. This failure
to deal with the urgent issues reflected the deeply conservative nature of the members of the committee as well as an inability
to comprehend complex legal and philosophical arguments which was obvious to all during the oral presentations.
The implications of the failure to tackle this issue and, for example, to give rights to children as
individuals in their own right, impacts right across education, the social services, and health provision.
The stark implications of the vulnerability of children to rape following the constitutional striking
down of the law on Statutory Rape should really focus our attention on the failure of the APOCC to deal with issues that are
crying out for reform. At this time, when the government is belatedly talking about bringing forward a constitutional
amendment dealing with the rights of children, we feel it is appropriate to republish our original submission from 2005.
Our submission does not deal with the specific issue of rape or sexual assault against children. What
it does, however, is to give the political, philosophical and jurisprudential foundation on which the rights of children should
be based. If and when the government publishes its draft of a constitutional amendment dealing with those issues our response
will be grounded on the same principles. We hope that the new Minister for Justice grasps the nettle of the constitutional
position of the family and the rights of children and moves away from the straightjacket of ultra-montane Catholic morality
that has blighted this area in the past.
John Lowry
General Secretary
The Workers’ Party
July 2008
The Workers' Party submission to the All Party
Oireachtas Committee on the Constitution can be downloaded by clicking the link below.
