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Northern Irish Parents who “Smack” to be Criminalized

By Hilary White

BELFAST, September 12, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Barry McNeany, the Northern Ireland Commissioner for Children and Young People, (NICCY), is trying to force the government of Northern Ireland to revise recently enacted laws to add criminalizing parents who spank their children.

McNeany has been granted leave for a judicial review on legislation designed to protect children from "abuse" and wants the law to be further tightened to prevent parents "assaulting" their children while disciplining them.

McNeany filed papers with Ireland’s High Court on Monday and a judge will decide if there are grounds for a review.

The NICCY would like to see it made illegal for a parent to strike their child in any circumstances.

Colin Reid, spokesman for NICCY, said, “We would support a call for an outright ban on physical punishment," he said. "If we are to fully protect children, we must develop a culture where they are treated equally to adults in respect of the law.”

"Of course children need discipline, but there are ways that do not involve physical punishment which aim to promote positive parenting,” he added.

The government-funded agency is only too happy to dictate to parents how they should raise and discipline their children. “Parents,” said Reid, “must be offered education and a much more extensive range of support to develop their skills in finding alternative ways to discipline children."

The move is opposed by Mary Russell from the Family Education Trust who says it is an attempt to wrest control of children away from parents.
 
"What we're talking about is can parents be entrusted to smack?" Mrs Russell told the BBC. "What these children's rights people are saying is no they can't."

In Canada, the Supreme Court ruled that although spanking was not banned outright, children under two and over 12 could not be spanked at all and criminalized the use of any object such as a wooden spoon. The use of physical discipline is restricted to previously approved criteria.

Since the ruling in 2004, commuters in large cities such as Toronto are regularly presented with government-sponsored information posters on transit offering parents “education” in how to raise their children to conform to the government-approved models.

A website from the British government, called Advice Guide, warns parents their children can be seized by the state and they could be prosecuted should they step over the criteria set by the courts. “You have a legal right to smack your child. However, if the violence you use is severe enough to leave a mark, for example a scratch or a bruise, you can be prosecuted for assault, or the child can be taken into local authority care.”

Read related LifeSiteNews.com coverage:
Canada's Top Court Criminalizes Spanking Under 2, Over 12 and With Any Objects
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2004/feb/04020201.html

7 Reasons Why Canadians Should Object to Elections Canada's 'Child Rights' Vote
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/1999/sept/990924a.html

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