Sir, – We are writing this letter as the chief executives of Ireland’s oldest child protection and child welfare charities in response to media reports that the Department of Children and Youth Affairs is to lose its Minister, and is to be subsumed into the Department of Education and Skills.
This is of serious concern to us as we believe it will set back progress made for children, young people and families for years.
We have had 19 official reports documenting how the country failed vulnerable children, culminating in the Ryan report.
These reports revealed how children were systemically abused and neglected. When they spoke, no-one listened. These reports highlighted the absence of children from our Constitution and that there was no central focus on children’s rights at a national level. Although child policy and child protection services were held by the Department of Health, they were invisible and starved of resources, with acute hospitals dominating the budget agenda.
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If the Department of Children and Youth Affairs is subsumed into the Department of Education, history will repeat itself.
The creation of the Department for Children and Youth Affairs signalled a change in how we value children as a society. Key successes to date include the constitutional referendum on the rights of children, the enactment of the Children First Act 2015 and the launch of the First Five Strategy, a whole-of-government plan to improve the lives of babies, young children and their families. There is more to be done.
To abolish the department at this time would undermine these achievements and stop further progress. It is a decision we believe the country will come to regret. We ask the Government not to forget our appalling history. We have a great future ahead of us but we need a Minister for Children and Youth Affairs to get us there. – Yours, etc,
SUZANNE CONNOLLY,
Chief Executive,
Barnardos;
JOHN CHURCH,
Chief Executive,
Irish Society for
the Prevention of
Cruelty to Children,
Dublin 2.