We have a long way to go to secure children’s rights

SO the Government is now going to legislate for the rights of the child. Parents and teachers should note this extends to the right to an education in an atmosphere that is safe and healthy.

How can this be the case for primary schoolchildren when there is no school hall, no adequate substitute teacher provision, dilapidated schools, unsafe buses and they are often living in neglect at home?

How can children feel safe when they are being shot at in city streets or petrol-bombed in the driveway?

How can children thrive without a proper educational programme if they have an autistic spectrum disorder and their Government sees fit to say one size fits all? How can children study when their lives are threatened by a proposed gas terminal pumping in raw gas and discharging pollution into their drinking water? How can they study when they see their families struggle to preserve their livelihoods as fishermen and farmers while the pleas of their parents are ignored? It is unacceptable stress to place on the very young.

Like Britain and the USA, we ignore the weak and the vulnerable at our peril. The free market controls all. Our jails will be full of young men with untreated attention deficit hyperactive disorder (ADHD), dyslexia and a myriad of emotional and mental health problems.

Untreated because the Government chose not to provide adequate funding to meet their educational needs and the treatments they needed when they were at school. Children and adolescents in need of mental health treatment must wait for over two years in the north-west. Bullying in schools is also a major problem. A few months ago the Government introduced a teachers’ unit specialising in discipline. Too little, too late. The authorities cannot cope with drug trafficking and anti-social behaviour is growing at an alarming rate. We are a society that has had too much too soon, and the young are its victims.

The welfare of our young should be paramount. There should be proper investment in their mental and physical health so they have the chance to become fulfilled citizens. Unless we can do this, we should forget about a referendum on equal rights for children.

Anne Lawton

Caherweesheen

Tralee

Co Kerry