Bid To Ban Smacking May Go To Lords

Despire a failed bid to brand parents who smack their children as 'abusers', a local childrens' advocate is set to appeal to the Lords.

Northern Ireland's Children's Commissioner Patricia Lewsley, who 10 days ago lost a court appeal to ban parents from smacking their children, said that she would not give up in her attempts to ban smacking - despite thousands of pounds in legal costs to date.

The former SDLP politician confirmed today that she would like to appeal to the House of Lords.

Asked whether she made any distinction between physical abuse where someone deliberately set out to harm a child, and a loving parent smacking their child she told the Belfast News Letter: "Children have told us that hitting is humiliating. Even though they would say their parents are loving and caring, it is still humiliating."

Ms Lewsley stressed that the smacking case was not the totality of her work and that she was engaged in a series of other schemes to help children.

However, Ms Lewsley said that she would be meeting her legal advisors "shortly" to decide on whether to pursue an appeal to the House of Lords.

She said that if the legal advice was that it was both within her budget and had a reasonable chance of success, she would like to pursue the case.

However, Ms Lewsley said that the legal challenge was only one route towards outlawing smacking and said that she did not want to criminalise parents.

Ms Lewsley said that "it's about positive parenting strategies" and reiterated that she "didn't want to see parents dragged through the courts".

Instead, she said they should stop smacking their children as has happened in schools.

The childrens' champion has also denied News Letter reports that the legal challenges have cost around £200,000.

"We don't have a final cost but our estimate is we will have spent around £74,000 over three years," she told the BBC today.

(BMcC/JM)