75% of commitments to children dropped, claims group

THE new Programme for Government has dropped three-quarters of the commitments relating to children contained in an earlier draft, the Children’s Rights Alliance has claimed.

The group said following analysis of the new Programme for Government, agreed last Friday between Fianna Fáil and the Green Party, it had found the number of commitments on children’s issues had fallen from 219 to 49.

Key omissions include the amalgamation of the Qualified Child Allowances and the Family Income Supplements in order to develop a “second tier” of income support for poorer families, and a pledge to continue to increase Child Benefit.