Irish children are still suffering

Two years ago a report was published which denied that 198 children had died ‘unnatural’ deaths while in the sole care of the State. Some social workers believed the number to be far greater.

That report failed to ignite any expression of public horror nor did it inspire a media campaign for a full public inquiry to be held. By and large, Dáil Éireann remained relatively quiet.

Those children are dead. They will never give evidence before a tribunal nor be heard on Joe Duffy’s Liveline.

Needless to say, the State will never have to pay them compensation of any kind. Enda Kenny will never, it would seem, apologise to them in Dáil Éireann.

We can see those children who are destined for an early grave on the streets of Dublin every day of the week as they cluster close to the morphine clinics. Reports from the Children’s Courts reveal details of their chaotic lives.

When Deputy Charley Flanagan speaks in Dáil Éireann about “not treating all the children of the nation equally“, does he not comprehend the rank hypocrisy of his words? Does he not recognise the fact that he is a member of a government that considered it adequate to provide one residential unit of 20 beds (nine of which are unoccupied because of shortage of staff) for recovering drug addicts. Does he not see the army of emaciated young people who wander our streets in search of a fix?

We have — and have always had — a class of untermenschen in this country. In my lifetime only one politician, Donagh O’Malley, has intervened in a meaningful way to achieve true equality for all of the children of the nation. Dáil Éireann today possesses no politicians, male or female, of O’Malley’s calibre.

While the lost army of young drug addicts still wander the streets of our cities, let us have no more talk of ‘treating the children of the nation equally’.

Peadar Kelly

Sillogue Gardens

Ballymun

Dublin 11