Children's groups oppose two referendums on one day

Children's rights organisations have expressed strong opposition to plans being discussed by the Government to hold a referendum on child protection on the same day as the European Union reform treaty.

Some senior Cabinet members are keen to hold a "mini" child protection referendum which would make it an automatic offence for an adult who has sex with a person under-18, partly on the basis that such a poll would boost voter turnout.

But groups such as the Children's Rights Alliance and Barnardos are opposed to this and want a single referendum on children's rights and child protection at a later date. They fear that political momentum behind recognising children's rights in the Constitution will be lost if the referendum is split in two.

The opinions of such groups have emerged in submissions to the Oireachtas committee, which is responsible for agreeing a wording for a referendum on children.

In a further development, a number of children's agencies have expressed concern over plans to make sex with a person under-18 automatically a criminal offence.

This law would introduce a zone of absolute protection below which it would be automatically criminal to have sex with a child.

The Cari Foundation (Children At Risk in Ireland), which deals with children affected by child sexual abuse, says it could criminalise teenagers who have consensual sex with each other.

"This proposal runs the risk of allowing legislation which would set a threshold below which children themselves, whom we know are consistently and consensually engaged in sex from their early teens, would find themselves criminalised and guilty of serious offences," Cari's submission says.

It also says that such laws would be likely to be challenged in the European courts, as such strict and absolute liability measures were only ever intended for relatively minor offences such as driving misdemeanours. Many of these concerns are understood to be shared by a number of groups within the Children's Rights Alliance, a coalition of 80 non-governmental organisations.

In its submission to the Oireachtas committee, it said it was not appropriate for society to use criminal justice legislation to deter young people from engaging in consensual sexual behaviour.

It says any gaps in the law in this area could be dealt with through legislative changes or practice reform.

The Government is hopeful that an agreement can be reached in the talks this week with Fine Gael TD Alan Shatter and Labour's Brendan Howlin so that a referendum outlawing sex with minors in all cases can be held quickly.

But this may be difficult to achieve. Last year, during similar discussions, there was division among the parties over the age below which strict liability should be introduced.

Fianna Fáil and Labour said 16 years was the appropriate age but Fine Gael recommended 17 years.

© 2008 The Irish Times

This article appears in the print edition of the Irish Times