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Summary: Priorities for the child rights referendum would include child welfare and protection and early intervention of children’s services, after reported inadequacies in the current childcare services.
[12 march 2011] - The government plans to remove child protection and welfare services from the responsibility of the Health Service Executive (HSE) and hold a referendum on children’s rights, Minister for Children Frances Fitzgerald has said. She said the HSE experienced major problems in providing child welfare services and a new child protection agency would be set up. “Clearly there have been major problems. We have had report after report and indeed more reports to come that highlight the inadequacies in our childcare services. We believe that there should be a new way of delivering those services, and we need to have new criteria about transparency and the work that is actually being done, about the outcomes, and to avoid having the sort of tragedies that we have had in the past,” Ms Fitzgerald told RTÉ Radio yesterday. She said discussions in her department had begun and contact would be made with the HSE to plan the reforms. Ms Fitzgerald said holding a referendum to enshrine children’s rights within the Constitution was a priority of the Government and she hoped this could take place this year. She said she would look at the wording for the referendum proposed by the last government and a different wording proposed by an all-party Oireachtas committee. She said she hoped it would be possible to get all-party agreement on the wording. Ms Fitzgerald said her role as Minister for Children, which has been elevated to a full ministry by the Government, has a broader framework than the referendum. She said there are 1.2 million children in the State, who are crucial to its future, and priorities would include child welfare and protection, early childhood education, early intervention of children’s services and the problem of childhood obesity. “If you look at children in Ireland for example 25 per cent of seven-year-olds are obese or overweight. That’s a huge challenge and there needs to be someone in Cabinet driving initiatives in all of these areas and bringing together the work of health, education, sports and environment to address challenges like this. So it is a very important value statement by government,” she said. Ms Fitzgerald also expressed disappointment about the low number of women Ministers. “I’ve been disappointed for years about the low numbers of women in Cabinet and I remain disappointed and I won’t be happy until I see 50 per cent or more,” said Ms Fitzgerald. Further Information:
Owner: Jaime Smythpdf: http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2011/0312/1224291980935.html