The proposed referendum on children’s rights is set to be postponed until at least 2011, due to concerns over how the wording of an amendment to the Constitution would affect several key policies.

Government officials are said to be concerned that the proposed wording could prevent the deportation of parents unlawfully in the State and entitle children faced with expulsion from schools to legal representation, the Irish Times reports.

Minister for Children Barry Andrews said yesterday no final decision on the timing of the referendum had been made because of potential problems flagged up by different Government departments.

“I’ve always said the timing of the referendum is not of the highest significance to me. What is significant is to ensure that it is done right,” said Mr Andrews.

Last week Fianna Fáil TD Mary O’Rourke, who chaired the Oireachtas Committee on the Constitutional Amendment on Children, said the referendum should be held “as quickly as possible”. She said the proposed wording may have to be “tweaked” and warned if the rights’ referendum wasn’t held now “the time would be lost”.

Speaking at the launch of new standards for youth workers, Mr Andrews said changes to the wording proposed by the committee may now have to go further than the “tweaking” suggested by Ms O’Rourke and various NGOs for the amendment.

He said the proposed wording in relation to the “best interests of children being of paramount consideration” may make it impossible to deport an individual with a child in the country. There are currently several appeals against deportations made by failed asylum seekers with Irish citizen children pending in the courts.

A second problem highlighted by the Department of Education relates to a so-called “voice of the child” provision in the wording, which it fears could entitle children facing expulsion from schools to legal representation.

A third concern highlighted by the Department of Health relates to a “continuity of care provision”, which it fears could potentially result in inappropriate foster care placements being continued. This could arise if judges invoked the clause to justify a continuing care placement even when other concerns have been raised, such as a lack of proper vetting procedure.

The delay to agreeing the wording of an amendment means it is highly unlikely that a children’s rights referendum can be held this year. The Cabinet does not meet again until September 1st and the independent Referendum Commission usually sits for at least 12 weeks before a vote, meaning a December poll date would be the earliest opportunity.

Meanwhile, two leading children’s charities have cast yet more doubt on the ability of the Health Service Executive to look after children in its care.

Barnardos and the the Irish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children said that radical measures were needed to remedy what they described as a “broken” child-protection system.

Barnardos claimed that issues that had recently come to light, indicating that the HSE was not “fit for purpose” when it came to child protection.

The ISPCC said that despite the “fantastic” people working within the HSE, its structures were not protecting children.

Both agencies, which yesterday addressed the Oireachtas Committee on Health and Children, painted a grim picture of childcare services. Norah Gibbons of Barnardos said the country needed a “vision” of what it was going to offer children and their families.

Ms Gibbons made similar remarks to the McGill summer school last week.

Both groups are calling for a referendum on children’s rights, which is intended to make it easier for social workers to intervene in married families.

Implicit in this would be a greater number of children being looked after by the HSE, whose system for looking after such children Ms Gibbons described last week as “confused and unwieldy”.