Referendum is key - Protection for at-risk minority

With less than two weeks to go before voting on the children’s rights referendum to amend the Constitution, Children’s Minister Frances Fitzgerald was drawing attention to the rights of children over the weekend.

She suggested children should be entitled to an extra free year of pre-school childcare.

She noted Social Protection Minister Joan Burton had signalled at a recent pre-budget forum that the early childhood care and education (ECCE) scheme should be extended to a second year. Ms Fitzgerald explained that there was a need for a wider debate on the issues of child protection and welfare.