A children’s rights referendum could take place as early as next year after the Green Party insisted on it as part of the renegotiation of the Programme for Government.

The Oireachtas committee discussing the amendment is seeking an another eight weeks to come up with a draft wording for the amendment, according to an Irish Times report.

The amendment would change the article of the Constitution which relates to the family.

Currently Article 42 recognises that “the primary and natural educator of the child is the Family” and guarantees “to respect the inalienable right and duty” of parents to provide “for the religious and moral, intellectual, physical and social education of their children”.

Subsection five of the article, however, allows the State to intervene in the family “in exceptional cases”.

Adovcates of a children’s rights amendment argue that this provision makes it too difficult for social workers to intervene in families in a timely fashion.

Pro-family groups fear an amendment will give the State too much power to remove children from their families.

The chairwoman of the committee, Mary O’Rourke, has said she is “very pleased” that the revised programme for government specifically mentioned holding a constitutional referendum on children’s rights, “based on the work of the Oireachtas Committee on the Constitutional Amendment on Children”.

This means that the original wording put forward by the Government in 2007 is now not likely to be used. “It’s up to us now,” she said. The committee had three documents to assist it in its deliberations, she said, a report from the Minister and submissions from the Children’s Rights Alliance and from Barnardos.

Ms O’Rourke told The Irish Times that the issue of obstacles to adopting children in care would be discussed when the committee meets tomorrow. There are more than 5,000 children in care in Ireland, most with foster families.