Child abuse report underlines need for children’s rights referendum

"THE report is a catalogue of the greatest human rights abuses in the history of the State," said Amnesty International Ireland Executive Director Colm O'Gorman.

"The responses that need to be heard above all are the responses of those who lived it.

"We cannot allow ourselves to dismiss this report's implications for Ireland today. Along with a whole raft of other measures, the Government must fulfilL its obligations and commitments to introduce constitutional reform in this area.

"Unless the most fundamental law of our state demands that we place children's rights and children's dignity at the heart of decisions about their welfare they will remain at continuing risk of abuse and neglect, under the radar of the state bodies who are meant to protect them."