Children’s policies ‘barely acceptable’

THE Government has slumped to a D grade average in a review of its policies on children from a coalition of 90 groups around the country, who described the Government’s performance as “barely acceptable”.

The Children’s Rights Alliance (CRA) will today publish its second annual report card on the Government’s performance regarding its delivery on its commitment to children, with the document declaring a number of failures.

In three of the four headline areas, the Government’s grade has slipped compared with last year, and only in education has it seen its grading improve, from a D average last year to a C+ this year.

In the areas of health, material wellbeing and safeguarding children, however, the Government’s grades have fallen, with an E in both health and material wellbeing.

The report card also introduces a new F grade for the first time this year, highlighting what the CRA said was a straightforward failure of Government to meet its commitments. One of the F grades is linked to financial support for families, with the report card scathing about the Government’s decision to cut child benefit.

CRA chief executive Jillian Van Turnhout said the report card highlighted the Government’s shortcomings in stark fashion.

“We have found the Government’s overall performance on its promises to children to be barely acceptable, with limited positive impact on children’s lives,” she writes in the report’s foreword, adding that the Government’s poor performance is a matter of “grave concern”, even allowing for the fact that the country’s finances were in a dire position.

“As Ireland sinks further into economic crisis, all of our children should either be at the front of the queue or already on the lifeboats. But in reality, particularly in relation to some issues, the Government is putting its head in the sand.

“The Government has simply forced our hand, particularly when some of its policy decisions fly in the face of common sense, good practice and countless reports.”

Areas where the Government comes in for sharp criticism include its failure to meet its targets regarding the appointment of primary care teams, leading to an F grade, the decision to reduce the price of alcohol and a failure to tackle childhood obesity.

The Government receives an E grade for its failure to properly protect separated children, with the report card describing the Government’s actions to this point as “abysmal”, particularly given “the alarming instances of children going missing from care and evidence of trafficking”.

Ms Van Turnhout said there had been progress in some areas, such as the difference in gaining information from some Government departments whereas in preparing the 2009 report card the CRA found some departments “to be almost impenetrable”.

She also said the Government had made “great strides” by introducing the free pre-school year in 2009, earning itself a B grade. The overall tone, however, is one of criticism with the CRA claiming the Government needs to seriously improve its performance, particularly as the Government drafts a new national children’s strategy and its report to the UN committee on the rights of the child.