Children are the future and the care which is given to the welfare, education and protection of children is widely recognized as paying dividends in their later years. Children are one of the most vulnerable beings in our society and that is why the protection of the children are one of the most important rights to uphold in society. This assignment will critically discuss areas that uphold these rights such as the constitution regarding articles such as 41 and 42, legislation, various legal and social policies and children in the criminal justice system. This assignment will also include three recommendations about improving the position and welfare of children in the Irish society.

CONSTITUTION

The first area that upholds children rights is the Irish Constitution, Bunreacht na hEireann. This ‘fundamental legal document sets out how Ireland should be governed and the rights of Irish citizens’, (Constitution n.d). In the constitution, Article 41[1]https://academiaresearchers.com/ refers to the family. This article gives the family rights, which outweigh any other rights. It is a special protection from the State to grant the ideal environment to raise a child, (Ferguson and Kenny 1995). The State protects and values the family but only as a unit. This unit refers to a married family, which concludes that this protection is only to a married family. ‘The family unit in Ireland has autonomy over and above that of the individual members of the family’, (Geoffrey 2003).  Once the parents are not married, the father has no constitutional rights to his child, (Nestor 2004). Article 41 ‘enshrines the protection of the family from undue interference by the State and titled the balance institutionally towards the enchantment of parental rights and the minimum intervention end of the continuum’, (Duncan 1993).

Article 42[2] states that the very first people to educate a child are the parents. This is a duty that is imposed by the Constitution and in return for this duty, the custody and guardianship are guaranteed to the family. The State “guardian of the common good” also provides free education for the children. On the other hand, Article 42 is not all just about education. Article 42.5[3] concludes that when parents fail to look after and care correctly after their children, the State will step in and intervene. The precautions that will occur will be the State becoming the parent of the child or find substitute parents. The factors that allows the State to intervene range from child abuse, neglect and very serious cases. However the Constitution still did not ‘define the rights of children as distinct from those of the Family’, (Children’s Rights Alliance, Children’s Rights 2012). With this article, children were still seen as a possession or belonging and not an individual with rights.