Written Answers. - National Strategy for Children.
Róisín Shortall
Question:
148
Ms Shortall
asked the
Minister for Health and Children
the progress to date in implementing the National Children's Strategy; the number of times the Cabinet sub-committee on the National Children's Strategy has met in 2001; if the National Children's Advisory Council has been established; the progress to date in establishing the national children's office; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
[15507/01]
Substantial progress has been made to date in implementing the national children's strategy. Funding of £2 million has been provided in 2001 to commence the establishment of the new infrastructure necessary to implement it. The first meeting of a Cabinet committee on children, chaired by the Taoiseach, took place on 28 March 2001. The committee will meet on a quarterly basis to review progress and agree priorities for action. Its next meeting will take place on 3 July 2001.
I am responsible for overseeing implementation of the strategy, in addition to my current statutory role in the Departments of Health and Children, Justice, Equality and Law Reform and Education and Science. I will report to the Cabinet committee on progress being made. A national children's office has been established on an administrative basis and is providing a dedicated team to support me in my expanded role. While Government Departments will retain responsibility for implementing the strategy, the office will co-ordinate and monitor progress by taking a lead role in a number of key policy areas. The committee agreed the priority policy areas and core functions of the children's office at its first meeting in March. The priorities for the office are the implementation of the Children Bill, 1999, and the development of a national play and recreation policy.
The National Children's Advisory Council has been established and the inaugural meeting took place on 15 May 2001. The council, which has a membership of 30, has an independent advisory role in relation to the implementation of the strategy and reports to me. The functions of the council were set out in the strategy. The council will maintain the partnership approach developed through the strategy to influencing policy on children's issues. It includes representatives of statutory agencies, the voluntary sector, research community, parents and children. At the council's first meeting I proposed two priority areas to be addressed, the voice of children and play and recreation and the areas were agreed by the council.
The implementation of the strategy at local community level began in February with a conference for county and city development boards – CDBs – jointly hosted by the Minister for the Environment and Local Government, Deputy Dempsey and I. The CDBs are the key bodies to lead implementation of the strategy at local level, through ensuring that children's issues as identified in the strategy are addressed in the strategies for economic, social and cultural development. Children's participation in the development of these strategies was highlighted as an important aspect of the local plans.
A series of nationwide road shows, organised by officials of the national children's office and I commenced in February. The purpose of these fora is to promote the strategy among children, families and local communities and to build support for and involvement in its implementation. Each visit commences with a visit to a local school, followed by a forum for community groups, parents and local statutory bodies and the day concludes with a special forum for children and young people, organised with the assistance of the Irish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children. The first regional visit was in Limerick on 23 February but later arrangements were postponed due to foot and mouth disease restrictions. The visits recommenced in May with visits to Cork, Galway, Waterford and south Dublin. Further regional seminars are planned for Donegal, Kerry, Westmeath, north Dublin and Mayo later in the year.
Plans for the first Dáil na nÓg, due to have taken place on 11 April 2001, have been rearranged for the autumn due to foot and mouth disease. Dáil na nÓg was identified in the strategy as a measure to support its first goal, to give a voice to children. Two hundred children between the ages of eight and 18, representative of every county and socio-economic group, will be invited to attend. In February, the Minister for Social, Community and Family Affairs, Deputy Dermot Ahern and I announced the commissioning of a design brief for a national longitudinal study of children. A longitudinal study was identified in the strategy as a key measure to achieve the goal of better understanding children's lives.
Three doctoral fellowships and two post-doctoral fellowships to pursue research directly related to the strategy are being advertised in the national media this week, to commence in the academic year 2001-2002. The doctoral fellowships are for a period of up to three years and funding of £10,000 per annum plus university fees will be provided to the fellows. The post-doctoral fellowships are for a period of up to two years and funding of £25,000 per annum will be provided. Officials from Government Departments in Northern Ireland have expressed considerable interest in the strategy and officials from the national children's office have had meetings with officials from various government departments in Northern Ireland. A meeting at Minister of State level is currently in preparation.
A special session of the United Nations General Assembly will be held from 19 to 21 September 2001 as a follow up to the World Summit for Children which took place in 1990. The national children's office is undertaking preparatory work as part of the preparations for the session. Governments have been asked to prepare an end of decade report to review progress made since the last world summit on children in 1990. The end of decade report for Ireland is currently being prepared by the national children's office and a draft has been submitted to UNICEF.
The strategy has been widely distributed around the country to Ministers, TDs, Senators, schools, libraries, health boards, county councils, corporations, city and county development boards, Government Departments, voluntary agencies, vocational education committees and education centres. Copies have also been issued to any member of the public or organisation on request and a number of requests have been received from abroad. To date, 380,000 copies of the national children's strategy have been distributed.
