The Ombudsman for Children, Emily Logan, has urged the Government to give its opinion on the recently published wording for a proposed children’s rights referendum as soon as possible.

She said yesterday: “I feel there is real momentum behind amending the Constitution to strengthen children’s rights at present and it is incumbent on all those in support of the amendment to contribute that amendment.”

The wording seeks to make it easier for State authorities to intervene in families. Supporters say it is currently too difficult to take children into care. Over 5,000 children are currently in care in Ireland. Twenty-three children have died in care over the last ten years.

Ms Logan added: “Giving life to the principles enunciated in the proposed amendment will require a concerted effort on the part of the Oireachtas, Government departments, statutory bodies, the judiciary, service providers and others to make sure the State fulfils its obligations to children in Ireland.”

However, sceptics of the need for a change argue that the current law works well on balance. In February Professor Gerard Hogan of Trinity College Dublin told RTE that he disagrees with “the suggestion that the present provisions haven’t worked well, or that they don’t strike the right balance [between parents and the State], or are in some way responsible for lots of modern ills because I think that is just, with respect, a grotesque misstatement and misunderstanding of the present Constitutional provision.”

He continued: “We’re all in favour of the best interests of the child, and there is something of a mother and apple pie dimension to this. But in practical terms you have to ask yourself, when you’re talking about the best interests of the child, who is going to decide what is in the best of the child, and how is this going to be done? And if you’re talking about the State vindicating the rights of the child, you have to remember that this is likely to be officialdom, or some judge making this decision.”

Dr Hogan, an expert on the Constitution added: “This Constitutional amendment will be for life, and will be interpreted by the courts in the coming decades.

“It’s all very well to think of this in terms of Constitutional platitudes but those words will have real meaning and real significance in lots of hard cases and you have to bear that in mind.”

Earlier this week, the new President of Britain’s Family Law Division warned that social workers there are sometimes over-zealous in removing children from their parents.