Dáil Éireann debate -
Wednesday, 4 Mar 1998

Vol. 488 No. 2

Priority Questions. - Rights of the Child.

Róisín Shortall

Question:

14 Ms Shortall asked the Minister for Health and Children the steps, if any, he intends to take to comply with the recent recommendation of the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child that all papers and reports relating to Ireland and adopted by that committee should, as stated in paragraph 41 of concluding observations, be widely distributed in order to generate debate and awareness of the Convention on the Rights of the Child and its implementation and monitoring within the Government, the Parliament and the general public, including concerned non-governmental organisations; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [5954/98]

Mr. Fahey

The observations of the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child in regard to Ireland's implementation of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child are currently being considered in my Department. The issues raised by the Deputy will be considered in the context of this examination. In addition, and in accordance with the commitment given by the Minister of State, Deputy O'Donnell, who led the Irish delegation at this hearing, the Dáil will debate this issue in the foreseeable future.

The draft report of the hearing has now been received from the committee secretariat. This report summarises the discussions which took place at the hearing. When the report has been finalised by the committee secretariat, I will arrange to have a copy placed in the Oireachtas Library.

Deputies may also be aware that Ireland's First National Report on the Implementation of the Convention was made available on the Internet by the Department of Foreign Affairs and I will arrange similar distribution in respect of documentation arising from the UN committee's hearing. Arrangements are also being made to conduct a joint publicity campaign in conjunction with the Children's Rights Alliance to publicise the provisions of the Convention.

Deputies may wish to note that the Department of Foreign Affairs has organised a forum for NGOs on human rights issues to be held on Saturday next, and the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child is one of the issues to be discussed. Officers of my Department will be participating in this forum.

Ms Shortall

Will the Minister of State accept that the report of the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child is a damning indictment of our child care services? The committee highlighted 17 different areas about which it has serious concern in regard to our child care services and made substantial recommendations in that regard. Does the Minister of State accept those recommendations, in particular the final recommendation which is probably the most significant, namely, the need for the Government to initiate a debate among the public and in this Parliament on all the reports emanating from that hearing? The Minister of State referred to some plans he has in this regard but placing a copy of the report in the Oireachtas Library is hopelessly inadequate in the context of generating a national debate on this issue. Does the Minister of State propose to put the report into the public arena? It is not sufficient to say that it is hoped to have a debate in the future. Is the Minister prepared to give evidence of his commitment to seriously tackling this issue and to adopting a rights based approach to child care issues?

If that is the case, surely the Minister will want to have the matter debated in the Dáil at the earliest possible date. Will he give a commitment that he will arrange Government time for a Dáil debate on the report?

Mr. Fahey

A Dáil debate will take place on the issue in the very near future. The first Irish report to the United Nations was a significant report. It did not try to show that we are the best at looking after the needs of our children. It was a realistic report prepared in consultation with NGOs, which had a significant input. Consequently, it was a balanced report which outlined the difficulties in addition to the great achievements we have made. I do not accept that the response to the report was damning, but it highlighted many areas where we are not up to speed in terms of children's rights and protection, which was welcome.

The publicity that surrounded the presentation of the report in Geneva and the points made in response outlined many areas which must receive priority. I am committed to carefully studying the report and implementing the recommendations made by the UN committee. In the area of child care there is in place a three year programme for the millennium to improve considerably child care services. All Departments are involved in a national strategy to improve the lot of children. We are committed to highlighting the report and the provisions of the UN Convention. I have allocated to the Children's Rights Alliance an initial £100,000 for a publicity campaign to highlight the provisions of the convention and the responses made to those provisions.

Ms Shortall

The Minister said that a number of Departments are involved in a national strategy on child care. Since I am not aware of a strategy on child care, are those Departments engaged in preparing such a strategy? If there is such a strategy will the Minister make it available to Members? Will he give a commitment that the matter will be put on the agenda of this House? If we are serious about tackling this issue — we should be ashamed little progress has been made over the years and there are many gaps in the service — will the Minister give a commitment to approach the Cabinet with a view to making available Government time during this Dáil session to debate this important report?

Mr. Fahey

The answer to the last part of the question is yes. I cannot display my commitment to significant improvement in the rights of children much more than I have done in the past seven months. I have made every effort to highlight with the Taoiseach, the Minister for Finance and the Minister for Health and Children the inadequacies of the system. I have succeeded in getting increased resources in the child care area, but there is need for a greater increase in resources.

Ms Shortall

Is there a strategy?

Mr. Fahey

I will deal with that. Since I was appointed I have been involved with three Departments, the Departments of Health and Children, Education and Science and Justice, Equality and Law Reform, in co-ordinating in a practical way our approach to the difficulties, particularly of disadvantaged children and children who are out of control and have behavioural problems. We are putting in place practical programmes, of which I will announce details in the next week. A number of other issues are involved in the strategy. The Deputy is right in that up to now there has not been a clearly defined strategy for children. I am putting together such a strategy and working to build on the plan for the millennium. I got agreement from Government for significant extra staffing, which was a major difficulty for me, to enable a cross-departmental team up to assistant secretary level to become involved in a significant move to put in place and implement this strategy.

An Leas-Cheann Comhairle

As the time for priority questions is concluded, Question No. 15 cannot be taken as an oral question. Questions Nos. 16 and 17 may be taken in ordinary time.