The Government has put forward draft proposals for a Constitutional Convention which is one of the promises under the Programme for Government. The constitution will be comprised of Irish parliamentarians and political invitees from Northern Ireland. In addition other participants will be members of the public who will be chosen from the electoral register.
Some of the topics that will be considered by the constitution are a review of the Dáil electoral system, provision for same-sex marriage, amending the clause on the role of women in the home and encouraging greater participation of women in public life together with removing blasphemy from our Constitution.
The Children’s Rights Alliance voiced their concern about the exclusion of representative groups as the Government have proposed to form a Constitutional Convention. This will have an impact on children as they are not on the electoral register and further, representative groups will be unable to provide them with a voice. The Children’s Rights Alliance urges the Government to extend the ambit of the Constitution Convention so that rights contained in Articles 40-45 will be considered. Although a children’s rights referendum has been promised by Government, this does not mean that the forthcoming referendum will deal with issues that have been overlooked by the Constitutional Convention such as the right to be free from discrimination, the right to access education and the directive principles of social policy.
The Irish Council for Civil Liberties recommend that greater consideration should be given to Articles 38-45 which included the role of the family, religion and the directive principles of social policy. ICCL suggests that although it will be for the government to decide on the issues that will form the foundation of the legislation, the role of the Oireachtas in proposing legalisation should not be overlooked. ICCL recommends that additional time should be given to “wide-ranging participative consultation” in relation to the composition of the constitutional convention. ICCL provide the example of the White Paper on Irish Aid as a source of inspiration for the convention.
Click here to view the submission from the Children’s Rights Alliance
Click here to view the submission from ICCL