IRISH parents will have to re-address how they punish their children – following a complaint from a British non-governmental organisation (NGO).
Smacking a child is currently defendable by law in Ireland, though this will have to change following a ruling in Europe.
The EU decision found that Ireland’s laws regarding smacking children were in breach of the European Social Charter, after the Association for the Protection of All Children (APPROACH) in Britain complained about the state's regulations.
Though corporal punishment has been prohibited in schools across Ireland since 1982, parents can defend smacking their children in court.
However today's ruling from the Council of Europe found that the regulation in Ireland “must be sufficiently clear, binding and precise, so as to preclude the courts from refusing to apply them to violence against children”.
Now the Irish Government will be forced to review how parents can punish their children, so that the rules regarding smacking are made clearer in the law, for the protection of children.
The European Social Charter is a legally-binding social and economic counterpart to the European Convention on Human Rights – which all member states must adhere to.
