Children’s Court needs more than a physical makeover to paper cracks

EVERY day the Children’s Court rattles to the sounds of the Luas works and the construction teams building the smart new office and apartment blocks across from its front door.

Machinery rumbles, metal clangs and heavy drills pound the earth until the extra strength double-glazed security windows offer little protection and it feels like the walls might split and come crumbling down.

Inside the court there are real cracks on display. They are the ones that snake across the welfare system, disconnecting services, severing communications and creating deep, dark chasms into which helpless children fall.