Irish Examiner view: Still failing our most vulnerable

Children in care

As the Dáil discusses the number of children who died while in State care, many survivors of child abuse are being, in effect, told that their continued suffering doesn’t matter. File photo: iStock

In Ireland, we like to think that, as a society, we possess a remarkable degree of intergenerational solidarity, yet when it comes to the care of vulnerable children, our institutional response leaves a lot to be desired.

This is illustrated by the Government’s decision to exclude those who stayed in mother and baby homes for less than six months from the redress scheme. So does the revelation that 42 children died in the care of the State over the past decade.