Fresh calls for referendum pledge

CHILDCARE AGENCIES:SINCE PUBLICATION of the Ryan report "there has been a great deal of policy development," Fergus Finlay of Bernardos said yesterday. "And yet more reports have been published, to continually remind us of how much has to be done," he said.

He was speaking at a press conference in Dublin, hosted by eight of Ireland’s leading childcare agencies to mark the first anniversary of publication of the Ryan report and to launch the savingchildhoodryan.ie website

“Today, a year after Ryan, there remain thousands of children in Ireland at risk . . . At risk of betrayal by all of us who promised it would never happen again,” he said. “There is a harsh reality to be faced.” he said. “There has been not nearly enough implementation. Additional resources have been promised. But precious few of them have found their way to where they are needed.

“New structures have emerged. But they don’t have nearly enough authority to drive change, to raise standards, to deliver on promises, or to be held properly accountable. And there have been devastating reports – and more are to come.”

The agencies “once again call for a commitment by Government to hold a referendum on the rights of children this year . . . we can assure the Government that there will be no recriminations from our organisations if they decide that this referendum is so vital, so urgent, and so necessary – as it is – that they are going to proceed without regard to any by-elections, mayoral elections, or other distractions,” he said.

Ellen O’Malley Dunlop of the Dublin Rape Crisis Centre said “we are acutely aware that the survivors of past sexual abuse are being let down by the cutbacks to services, it is alarming that children who are currently being abused are also being let down and betrayed.” She said ”the most meaningful monument to the survivors who have suffered so much would be to enshrine the rights of children in the Irish Constitution.”

Jillian van Turnhout of the Children’s Rights Alliance said that “a fundamental lesson from Ryan is that children were not valued and respected within society. To ensure this happens we need constitutional change.”

Queried as to why there appeared so little movement when there seemed such consensus on the issue, Mary Flaherty of Cari responded that fundamentally it was about “how we as a society value children.” This “deep societal lack of value is reflected in the political system,” she said.

Mr Finlay said “we all believe the Minister is committed and and has worked hard at it but the fundamental position is that he has responsibility for drawing up policy the HSE has responsibility for implementation, where the Minister has no authority whatsoever.” He referred to the HSE’s new assistant national director for Children and Family Services, appointed last November. “He has no budget, no authority, no resources. He only has moral persuasion. And you can’t turn the Titanic with moral persuasion.”