Concerned about #crref 2012.

I sent the text below to the Irish Times. If its published I will acknowledge it in this blog.

Nobody on the yes side (although nobody on the NO side either) has raised any concerns about the children locked up in st pats prison.

There are many good reasons IMHO for those children to be either released or moved to a safer facility.

The general concensus seems to be that these children are convicted of criminal offences and therefore somehow deserve what they get in prison.

There is no acknowledgement that many if not all of these children ended up in prison because the state failed them in the first place.

To my mind anybody that is concerned about the welfare of children in Ireland should be screaming from the rooftops for their release, and in the absence of them not taking a very rigid public stance on this issue, I have to contemplate why they would expect me to vote in agreement with them.

I am growing very suspicious of this complete concensus,and the way the yes side are demonising anybody who expresses doubt that a change in the constitution will fix what is wrong with the way official Ireland deals with children, makes me more suspicious by the day.

I want to vote YES but my conscience does not sit comfortably with a change in the law that may make things worse for children.

Regards
John Fitzpatrick