ONE out of every four inmates at the national institution for young offenders have to be locked up alone for 23 hours a day to protect them from other residents.

CHANGES to the Constitution which would enshrine the rights of the child would also cease discrimination on grounds of parents’ marital status and open the way for thousands of children in the care system to be adopted.

MORE than three-quarters of children who are involved in court proceedings do not have their voice heard due to the lack of a specially appointed adviser.

The British government was urged today to raise the minimum age of criminal responsibility in the North and scrap the use of Asbos for children and young people.

THE gap between promises and action to protect Ireland’s most vulnerable children has been criticised in a big new report commissioned by the Ombudsman for Children.

AFTER 14 years of having ratified the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC), it might be expected that the Government would have implemented key areas of it.

FAILURE to adequately assess the threats an Irish-born child may face on deportation could lead to future lawsuits against the State, a children’s rights group has warned.

IRISH children are being denied their right to full protection by the Government’s lack of proper vetting of school staff for criminal records, the Ombudsman for Children Emily Logan has claimed.