Ireland near bottom of child welfare league

IRELAND has been condemned for not investing enough in the future welfare of children by the world’s leading promoter of economic growth.

The first report on the welfare of children across 30 countries by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) has found Ireland is among the worst performing nations when it comes to the amount of money spent on general child welfare.

Ireland also has one of the highest levels of child poverty and an alarming rate of suicide among young men.

The report reveals that 69% of Irish children do not exercise regularly and one in six are living in poverty, the seventh highest nation in the OECD region.

The OECD also suggests providing more cash benefits in the pre-school years, strengthening pre- and post-natal services and early childhood education, especially to children in disadvantaged families, can promote children’s wellbeing.

The report, Doing Better for Children, shows average public spending by OECD countries up to age sixaccounts for only a quarter of child spending. “A better balance of spending between the Dora the Explorer years of early childhood and the teenage Facebook years would help improve the health, education, and wellbeing of all children in the long term.”

Countries that spend relatively more on their youngest children include Finland, France, Hungary, Iceland and Norway. But Ireland, Japan, the Netherlands, New Zealand and the US spend relatively little.

Barnardos chief executive Fergus Finlay, said the report provided a frightening snapshot for Irish children: “We have been saying for a very long time that our spending priorities are not what they ought to be in Ireland.”

Director of the Irish Association of Suicidology Dr Justin Brophy said it was no surprise but still shocking that Ireland had the third highest suicide rate for young men in all of the OECD countries.

He said politicians still did not understand that investing more money in children earlier would result in significant savings later on. “What you are doing is equipping children to cope with the challenges of life.”