LAST UPDATE | 20 Feb

GOVERNMENT FAILURES ON housing are having a “lasting impact” on young children, according to the Children’s Rights Alliance.

The Children’s Rights Alliance has launched its annual report card examining the government’s promises that affect children in the programme for government that was set down in 2020.

Homelessness, mental health, and the direct provision system are all areas where shortcomings by the government are negatively impacting children, the report said.

However, progress has been made in other areas, including early childhood education and care, free school books and reducing poverty.

The report card gave the government an E grade for the third year in a row on children’s mental health, citing the continued practice of admitting children to adult psychiatric units and the “unacceptable” rise in waiting lists for Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (Camhs).

The government’s work on family homelessness in 2023 earned it a D- after a year of record numbers of homeless children (nearly 4,000).

It got a D in the category of ending direct provision, with the report noting that standards experienced by children and young people seeking asylum have deteriorated and children have been placed in unsuitable emergency accommodation centres.

In the education sector, work on free school books and early childhood education and care both received an A-.

Investment in the Hot School Meals programme earned the government a B for reducing food poverty.

Chief Executive of the Children’s Rights Alliance Tanya Ward said that 2023 was “an important year for investing in critical universal public services for children, such as the €4.7 million investment into affordable early years education, the expansion of free school books to all children and young people in Junior Cycle benefiting an additional 213,000 students, and the expansion of the school meals programme at primary school level”.

“At the same time, the government is struggling to get ahead of demand on housing, including for people seeking protection,” Ward said.

She noted the high numbers of child homelessness and said that “while green shoots of progress have kept the government grade above a fail, we are miles behind where we need to be to meet the demand for suitable and affordable accommodation and this is having a lasting impact on young children whose world is bring reduced to one small room”.

“To really turn the tide on this issue, the government needs to prioritise investment towards sufficient own-door accommodation structures as well as the introduction of standards to enable adequate inspection of emergency accommodation already in place.

“Government must now turn its head to commitments that, so far, have been largely ignored to ensure no child is forgotten and the most vulnerable members of our society know that the leaders of their country are fighting for them.”

Government response 

During Leaders’ Questions in the Dáil today, the Taoiseach defended the Government’s record. 

Social Democrats’ leader Holly Cairns raised the report and asked Varadkar if there are any levels of child homelessness that would prompt him to reintroduce the no-fault eviction ban. 

In response, Varadkar said the Children’s Rights Alliance issues it report card every year and said: 

“It might be useful for people to know that of the 16 measures that the Children’s Rights Alliance rates the Government on, our grades are up in four, the same in 12 and not down in any.”

“The impression you created would have someone outside believe that we got a fail grade, which will be dishonest politics Deputy,” he said. 

The Taoiseach said that overall the report told a story of progress, not a story of going backwards.

He added however that despite this, he is not delighted with the report’s findings. 

In response, Cairns said: “That’s the kind of spin that I’m referring to when I say that people feel that sense of hopelessness because you’re talking about going from an A to a B, and all of these different things. But like I said, child homelessness is up 55% since this government took office.”

“That’s the main figure that you need to address,” Cairns added. 

The Taoiseach hit back at Cairns and said: “It’s a little bit of a stretch for you to accuse me of spin, you’re quite the Social Democrats’ spinmeister yourself”.

With reporting from Jane Matthews