The Government has finalised a wording for its planned referendum on children which would allow for the use of "soft information" in the vetting of adults working with children.
Under the changes the Garda, health authorities and voluntary groups would be able to share information on individuals accused of abusing children, even if that person was never convicted of an offence.
It is one of seven proposed measures, aimed at strengthening child protection and children's rights, to be included in a referendum which the Government hopes to hold before the general election. The final wording is due to be officially published on Monday.
Taoiseach Bertie Ahern has said he will only proceed with a referendum if there is all-party consensus on the issue.
However, this may not be possible, given the limited time-frame available to debate the issue. Opposition parties last night expressed frustration that they still did not have access to the final wording with just months to go before the general election, which is expected in the summer.
Fine Gael's spokesman on justice Jim O'Keeffe last night said the issues at stake were wide-ranging and complex and would need to be subject to a lengthy debate.
"When we're changing the vary basic laws of the State you need to ensure all the proposed measures are fully debated by the Oireachtas and, more importantly, the people," he said.
Labour and the Green Party have also expressed reservations about rushing into a referendum, while only Sinn Féin have expressed support for a referendum on the same day as the election.
An all-party Oireachtas committee recommended in 2002 that up to 120 days, or four months, should be set aside to debate constitutional amendments that are detailed or contentious. That committee was chaired by Minister for Children Brian Lenihan and the vice-chair was Mr O'Keeffe.
Mr Lenihan yesterday insisted the Opposition had been briefed on developments over the last three months.
Other planned changes to be contained in the wording include:
• Provision for the introduction of a strict liability offence for adults who have sex with children. This would remove the defence of "honest mistake" available to adults and introduce a zone of absolute protection, below which it would be automatically criminal to have sex with a child. The age at which this zone of protection comes into force will be left for the Oireachtas to decide.
• An acknowledgment of the natural and imprescriptible rights of children.
• Legal authority to secure the best interests of children in any court proceedings relating to adoption, guardianship, custody or access.
• Ensuring children from marital and non-marital family units are eligible for voluntary adoption.
• Legal authority for the adoption of children who have been in care for substantial periods of time, in the best interests of those children.
• A re-statement of the existing protection of children and parents and the extension of this provision to all children.
Mr Lenihan said yesterday the measures would significantly strengthen children's rights and enhance the State's child protection regime.
He said recommendations to allow for the use of "soft information" had been made in the Ferns report into clerical sex abuse of children. However, the constitutional guarantee of a citizen's right to their good name had blocked any progress on this issue.
