Department of Children must be ‘standalone portfolio’ says Children’s Ombudsman
Government formation talks have focused more on cattle than on children, the Ombudsman for Children has said, repeating his call for the retention of the Department of Children as a “standalone portfolio”.
This week Dr Niall Muldoon wrote to the leaders of Fine Gael, Fianna Fail, and the Green Party for a second time, reiterating his “grave concern” over proposals to abolish the Department of Children and Youth Affairs (DCYA).
In his letter to Deputies Leo Varadkar, Micheál Martin and Eamon Ryan, Dr Muldoon said abolishing the DCYA would have a “damaging effect on children’s rights and welfare”, be “inconsistent” with the constitution, and “contrary” to recommendations by the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child.
Dr Muldoon said his Office continued to receive “serious complaints” from children and young people and a focus on their rights, welfare, and wellbeing must be sustained.
A “rigorous risk assessment” examining the potential impact of the loss of the Department had not been carried out, he added.
The Children’s Department, set up in 2011, was a “hugely important portfolio” given the State’s “terrible record” in the past, Dr Muldoon told RTE radio on Friday.
He chronicled several apologies by the State since 1999 after various reports highlighted the abuse and neglect of children in state institutions.
“We had 100 years of abuse of children, of neglect of children, of ignoring children and of not listening to their voices and, in fact, dismissing their voices. And now we think we’ve got the job done in six or seven years. That’s not viable from my point of view,” he told the Today with Sarah McInerney programme.
Based on budgetary allocations, subsuming the DCYA portfolio within the Department of Education would see children becoming “one-fifteenth of the interests” of the next Education Minister, Dr Muldoon said.
“Children are not a focus within individual departments even if the title is with a Minister. From my point of view it has to be a standalone portfolio,” he said.
It was “very concerning” that there was more talk about cattle than children during government formation talks, the Children’s Ombudsman said. “There has been more talk about cattle and for lots of relevant reasons but children have not been on the agenda in any way whatsoever”.
While a lot of progress was made since the 2012 Children’s Referendum, Dr Muldoon said there was “still a lot of work to be done”.
The next government, he said, should prioritise ending homelessness, changing Direct Provision, and focusing on mental health, adding that the new ‘refreshed’ mental health strategy was a “missed opportunity” to develop a specific strategy for children.
