A DÁIL committee will announce the proposed wording for a referendum on children's rights this Tuesday, paving the way for the cabinet to set the date for the controversial vote.

The forthcoming report of the committee on the constitution dealing with the rights of children will deal with the family law aspects of the proposed amendment.

"We will be publishing our final report on Tuesday at lunchtime and it will contain the wording for the referendum," said Mary O'Rourke, chair of the 15-member committee. "This is our third and final report. Our first report was on the issue of soft information, giving authority to gardaí to deal with such information. The second report was on the criminal aspects of rape which dealt with areas such as strict liability. Minister Dermot Ahern has brought the heads of a bill dealing with that to cabinet.

"The final report deals with the wording of the referendum. It has been achieved through cross-party consensus. We will present it to the Oireachtas and then it is up to cabinet to set a date for the referendum and I hope that they do that."

Last month, government chief whip Pat Carey suggested that a referendum on children's rights, which would provide important new constitutional protections for children, may be held on the same day as a referendum on the establishment of a new court of civil appeal.

There has also been speculation that the referendums could be held in June.

Meanwhile, the government is also considering a third referendum on an amendment aimed at broadening the reference to the role of women in the home to recognise the "role of the parents in the home".

However, Taoiseach Brian Cowen told the Dáil last week that no date had been set for any of the proposals and there were no plans to hold all three referendums on the same day.