COMMITTEE ON RIGHTS OF CHILD EXAMINES REPORT OF IRELAND

The Committee on the Rights of the Child today reviewed the second periodic report of Ireland on how that country is implementing the provisions of the Convention on the Rights of the Child.

Introducing the report, Brian Lenihan, Minister for Children of Ireland, said that Ireland aimed to translate its newfound economic success into positive social change and much progress had been made. For instance, he was speaking today as the first-ever Irish Minister for Children to attend meetings of the Cabinet. As such, the interests of children were taken into account in an unprecedented manner across all areas of government. The most significant development had been the publication of the National Children’s Strategy in 2000, which was rooted in the Convention and which set out an ambitious series of objectives that had defined children’s policy since its publication.

In preliminary remarks, Committee Expert Lucy Smith, who served as Rapporteur for the report of Ireland, repeated that she was impressed by what had been achieved by Ireland in a short time on children’s rights. The Committee was looking forward to the reform of the Constitution to allow for the best interests of the child to become the primary consideration in issues affecting them.

Other Experts raised a series of questions pertaining to, among other things, how the Ministry for Children coordinated with other government agencies; the independence of the Children’s Ombudsman, and the limits of its jurisdiction; institutional racism in schools, preschools and youth club settings; discriminatory treatment for child asylum-seekers; the crisis of teenage pregnancies; complaint mechanisms for children in care; data on abused children and the duty to report suspected cases of abuse; children’s courts and special rules for children in the justice system; why Ireland had not ratified the Hague Convention on Adoption; and child alcohol abuse. An Expert drew attention to a demonstration taking place outside the Palais Wilson of single Irish fathers, who complained that they were not given equal treatment in Ireland, and asked for details about the situation of father’s rights there.

The Committee will release its formal, written concluding observations and recommendations on the second periodic report of Ireland on the Optional Protocol towards the end of its three-week session, which will conclude on 29 September.

The delegation of Ireland included Paul Kavanagh, the Permanent Representative of Ireland to the United Nations Office at Geneva, along with other representatives from the Permanent Mission, and representatives from the Office of the Minister for Children, the Department of Education and Science, the Department of Social and Family Affairs, the Department of the Environment and Local Government, the Office of the Attorney General, the Department of Justice Equality and Law Reform, the Department of Health and Children, and the Department of Foreign Affairs.

As one of the States parties to the Convention, Ireland is obliged to present periodic reports to the Committee on its efforts to comply with the provisions of the treaty. The delegation was on hand throughout the day to present the report and to answer questions raised by Committee Experts.

When the Committee next reconvenes in public in Chamber A, on Friday, 22 September at 10 a.m., it will consider the initial reports of Viet Nam on the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography and on the Optional Protocol on the involvement of children in armed conflict. Chamber B will review the third periodic report of Jordan.

Report of Ireland

The National Children’s Strategy, Our Children – Their Lives, was published in November 2000 after extensive consultation with parents and groups working with children, as well as with children themselves. The second periodic report of Ireland (CRC/C/IRL/2) notes that the strategy is a 10-year plan of action, which calls on the statutory agencies, the voluntary sector and local communities to work to improve the quality of all children’s lives. It includes a range of actions across such areas as giving children a voice so that their views are considered in relation to matters that affect them, eliminating child poverty, ensuring children have access to play and recreation facilities, and improving research on children’s lives in Ireland. The Office of the Minister for Children is a cross-cutting government office that works with government departments and other agencies to improve policies and services for children, and has a particular responsibility to support the Minister for Children in overseeing the implementation of the National Children’s Strategy and in coordinating government policy on children.

A child is defined as a person under 18 years of age in the National Children’s Strategy, the Child Care Act, 1991, and the Children Act, 2001. There have been a number of important legislative changes in the area of corporal punishment, including a section of the Criminal Law Act, 1997, which abolishes the power of a court to impose a sentence of corporal punishment; a section of the Children Act, 2001, which makes it an offence for a person who has the custody of a child to wilfully assault, ill-treat, neglect, or abandon them; and a section of the Non-Fatal Offences against the Person Act, 1997, which abolishes the common law rule under which teachers had immunity from criminal liability for physically punishing pupils. A prohibition in legislation of corporal punishment within the family has not been brought forward. The policy focus has been on changing parents’ attitudes and offering them alternatives as the most appropriate course.

Presentation of Report

BRIAN LENIHAN, Minister for Children of Ireland, said that Ireland had experienced extraordinary economic growth over the last decade. The aim of the Government had been to translate that new-found economic success into positive social change and much progress had been made. For instance, he was speaking today as the first-ever Irish Minister for Children to attend meetings of the Cabinet. As such, the interests of children were taken into account in an unprecedented manner across all areas of government.

The most significant development, Mr. Lenihan said, had been the publication of the National Children’s Strategy in 2000. The Strategy, which was rooted in the Convention, set out an ambitious series of objectives which had defined children’s policy since its publication. The appointment of the first Ombudsman for Children had been a significant acknowledgement that children and young people had the same right as adults to efficient and equitable public services. It also had a special role in drawing attention to the Convention in Ireland.

The establishment of the National Children’s Office (now fully incorporated into the Ministry for Children) set Ireland on a clear path to implementing Article 12 and giving children a voice in Ireland. Mr. Lenihan believed that, from a position of little understanding or regard for the voice of children, his Office had made a very strong start. His Office consulted regularly with children in its work.

Mr. Lenihan drew attention to the valuable work done by the Office of the Minister in advancing Ireland’s understanding of the lives of children through research that it commissioned. The first National Longitudinal Study of Children in Ireland was under way, which would monitor the lives of 18,000 children over an initial period of 7 years and would provide valuable information for future policy formation. In the area of education, since 1997, Ireland had more than doubled the overall budget from 2.9 billion euro to 7.9 billion euro in 2006. Ireland had hired 5,000 additional primary teachers and more than 2,000 extra post-primary teachers and reduced class sizes. Child protection was another key part of the Government agenda: recent years had seen a rebalancing and readjustment of services towards early intervention and support for families in order to reduce the numbers of children who might become dependent on State care. Since 1997, the Government had increased the annual provision of childcare services by more than 200 million euro in real terms.

Research had identified children of lone parents as one of the major groups at risk of child poverty, the Minister noted. A new Government discussion paper put forward a range of proposals for the reform of restrictive social policies in the care of lone parents and low-income families generally. Work had commenced on progressing those recommendations in consultation with government departments and agencies and the relevant stakeholders.

In conclusion, Mr. Lenihan said that, notwithstanding the challenges that lay ahead, he was confident that Ireland had demonstrated that children and young people were higher on the agenda than ever before.

Questions by Experts

LUCY SMITH, the Committee Expert serving as Rapporteur for the report of Ireland, congratulated Ireland for the developments in the field of children’s rights since the Committee last gave its concluding remarks. First, she appreciated the establishment of the new Minister for Children and the National Children’s Strategy, as well as the National Children’s Office to drive the National Strategy. She also felt that good work had been done to incorporate children’s voices and to promote the right of children to be heard. Finally, it was good to see the many, vibrant non-governmental organizations working in the field of children’s rights in Ireland.

Turning to issues of concern, Ms. Smith wanted to know why Ireland had not yet ratified the Optional Protocol on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography. Also she was concerned about the legal status of the Convention in the Irish Constitution and in the domestic legal sphere. Ireland had a dual legal system, which meant that the adoption of the Convention did not automatically lead to its being incorporated into domestic law. Would Ireland incorporate in the Constitution an express provision for children’s rights?

Ms. Smith was surprised by some of the recent decisions of the Supreme Court of Ireland, which was overly conservative in her view. In particular a recent decision which held that the rights of the family as a unit superseded those of the individual members, including the rights of the children.

She felt that the situation for non-Catholics in the country was not an easy one. Although Ireland was becoming more multicultural and multi-denominational, that was not reflected in the educational sphere, were 90 per cent of the schools were Catholic schools. She understood that there was mandatory religious education in those schools and she wondered what freedom students had to opt out of those classes or to practice their own religions.

Noting the continuing high rate of child poverty in Ireland, Ms. Smith wondered if the country would reach the strategic goal it had set for itself of reducing the rate of child poverty to 2 per cent by 2007.

Regarding the age of criminal responsibility, Ms. Smith wished to voice her disappointment that Ireland had not implemented the relevant portion of the Children’s Act, 2001, to raise that age from 7 to 12, as well as that amendments had been included that would continue to allow children as young as 10 to be held liable in certain cases.

Other Experts raised a series of questions pertaining to, among other things, how the Ministry for Children coordinated with other government agencies; the independence of the Children’s Ombudsman, given the veto power of the Minister over the Ombudsman’s activities; the role and jurisdiction of the Ombudsman’s office, which did not cover police activities or the ability to follow up on children in custody; the fact that judges could not apply the Convention directly in the courts; institutional racism in schools, preschools and youth club settings; and discriminatory treatment for children of asylum-seekers.

An Expert, acknowledging that social expenditure for children had doubled in Ireland since 1997, drew attention to the fact that, in relation to gross domestic product, real spending on social services for children had not increased. He also wanted to know how much of those funds were channelled to income support for the poorest children.

Other questions and concerns expressed by Experts included the status of children of foreign nationals born in Ireland; the situation of Roma children; financial compensation for children harmed by State agents; limits or standards regarding corporal punishment within the family; whether corporal punishment was still being used in the context of law enforcement; and what measures had been put in place to give children a voice in the legal sphere and ensure their right to be heard.

An Expert drew attention to Article 3 of the Convention which required that, in all actions concerning children, the best interests of the child should be a primary consideration. He wondered whether that concept had been incorporated in Irish law. He also wondered how that would work with the Irish Constitution, which gave priority to the family.

Finally, an Expert wondered at the low breastfeeding rate for Ireland, which was the lowest in the European Union. In addition, she drew attention to the demonstration currently taking place outside the Palais Wilson of single Irish fathers, who complained that they were not given equal treatment in Ireland. What was the current situation regarding the rights of fathers in Ireland and with regard to paternity leave, she asked.

Response by the Delegation

BRIAN LENIHAN, Minister for Children of Ireland, responding to these questions and others, said that the Minister for Justice had introduced a bill on trafficking this year, which would enable Ireland to ratify the Optional Protocol on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography. A review of Constitutional law was also currently being undertaken and the issue of the primacy of family rights would be raised.

The Constitution recognized in express terms the right of parents to determine the religious training for their children. Children had the right to opt out of religious education in the schools. The great majority of new schools were multi-denominational, but Mr. Lenihan acknowledged that most children were educated at religious institutions. Those schools were not private schools, but were operated by the church in partnership with the Government and taught a national curriculum.

Mr. Lenihan was happy to announce that on 16 October the applicable section of the Children’s Act would be in force, raising the age of criminal liability from 7 to 12 years for the vast majority of offences. It was true, however, that amendments allowed for very serious offences, such as manslaughter or aggravated sexual offences, children as young as 10 were held criminally liable.

Another member of the delegation, responding on the issue of child poverty, said Ireland had already reached the goal of reducing it to 2 per cent according to its old methods of calculating poverty. That did not appear clearly as, in adopting European Union methodology for calculating poverty in 2004, the numbers had slightly increased.

On the issue of how the Office of the Minister of Children worked, the delegation affirmed that, within three government departments that had strong involvement with children – the Department of Education and Science, the Department of Social and Family Affairs, and the Department of Health and Children – the Minister of Children had delegated powers to each of them. That Office could comment on all legislation that affected children at the Cabinet level and, indeed, could have input on the drafting of such legislation because of the ability to rove around the various departments.

The supposed veto power of the Minister contained in the Ombudsman’s Act had never been exercised and it was unlikely that it would ever be used, the delegation insisted. Also, if it were exercised, it would require a written, public explanation for such veto.

On juvenile offender institutions, the delegation said that children’s detention centres were going to be taken as the model and in future all juvenile offenders under the age of 18 would be in such correctional institutions. The Ombudsman’s jurisdiction would extend to all those in such institutions. The funds had already been allocated and it was expected that the policy would be fully operational by the end of the decade.

The delegation noted that last year Parliament had allocated 1.35 million euro in direct support to lone parents, but that that was not really effective in helping those parents out of the trap of poverty. They were looking into other policies that would help, but they did not want to increase work disincentives by introducing specific additional benefits for those at the lowest end of the spectrum. On the related issue of single father’s rights, the delegation recalled that a discussion paper on the topic of single parents had been circulated and progress was being made on addressing those issues.

The delegation recalled that corporal punishment was expressly forbidden within correctional establishments in Ireland. Indeed, only in the family sphere was there no express prohibition for corporal punishment that fell within the scope of “reasonable chastisement”. What was reasonable was for a court to determine. If the punishment exceeded what was reasonable then the parent could be charged with the offence of assault or another offence, as the case required.

The situation of Roma or Traveller children posed particularly difficult problems, given to their lack of fixed domiciles. The delegation noted that over 200 million euro had been spent so far on a population of just 21,000 according to most recent census data.


Further Questions by Experts

During the second round of questions, the Rapporteur asked what was being done to prevent bullying in schools. She also observed that it seemed that there was not sufficient educational chances for children with disabilities, hearing impaired children, for example. She was concerned as well about the issue of sexual education, which was perhaps linked to the high age for sexual consent in Ireland. Finally, what provisions were made for children with mental health problems, in particular to protect such children from sexual abuse.

Other Experts asked further questions on topics including, among others, the crisis of teenage pregnancies and programmes to deal with sexual health; children in foster care; complaint mechanisms for children in care; child death reviews; data on abused children; children’s courts and special rules for children in the justice system; why Ireland had not ratified the Hague Convention on Adoption; and the situation with regard to paedophile priests.

An Expert asked a series of health-related questions, including whether the 2,000 children in the Roma/Travellers community had the same access to health care as other children in Ireland; whether more psychiatrists had been engaged to treat adolescents, as a report of the National Task Force on Suicide had recommended; and what was being done to address the issues of teen alcohol abuse and children’s obesity. Other questions from Experts included the issue of children not in parental care; and strategies to combat child pornography.

Response by Delegation

The delegation, in response to those and other questions, said that the allegation that spending on education had not increased in relation to gross domestic product (GDP) was incorrect. Spending on education had increased in real terms, if one took account of the inflation of GDP by the inclusion of repatriated funds.

The delegation noted that student councils played an active role in the school inspection system at the secondary level and had input into that process. Regarding bullying, the responsibility for managing such issues fell on the individual schools. However, the Department of Education and Family Affairs had issued guidelines in 1999 on student behaviour as well as guidelines on Internet and telephone bullying. Relationships and sexuality education were compulsory at the secondary level, and currently the National Curriculum Council was considering including those subjects at primary level. Lesson plans and methodologies for sexual education had also been developed by the Department.

On the issue of asylum-seeking children, the delegation confirmed that all health and educational services were fully available to such children up to the age of 18 on the same basis as for Irish children. Children with special education needs were educated in an inclusive environment if at all possible, by the provision of special programmes within regular schools. There were currently over a hundred special schools, where such inclusion was not possible. At present the National Council for Special Education was preparing an implementation report on the development of individual education plans for each and every special needs child, mandated by the Education of Children with Special Needs Act (2004).

The delegation said that, following the completion of a survey on the availability of playgrounds, which had indeed shown a lack of such spaces at several schools, a National Play Policy was launched in 2004, drawn up in consultation with children themselves, and the Office of the Minister for Children had requested funds for playground construction and equipment. A 2006 follow-up survey showed that since the National Play Policy had been launched there had been a 123 per cent increase in the number of playgrounds in Ireland, and a further 103 new playgrounds were planned in the near future.

Regarding mental health issues, the delegation acknowledged that there was a shortage of psychiatric facilities for children. Just this year additional funding had been allocated to increase the number of beds in such facilities for children and to expand community mental health services, and the number of approved child psychiatrist posts had almost doubled.

The delegation explained that work was under way to alter current legislation in Ireland to permit the adoption of the Hague Convention on Adoption. In the meantime, existing bilateral agreements with other countries were in line with the Hague Convention principles.

The Children Act, 2001, among others, provided protections for children in police custody, provided some restorative justice measures, established a special residential detention board to monitor such activities, and sought alternative procedures to detention for juveniles. There was also a special children’s court that handled most cases involving children, the delegation noted. The Act also established the Garda Juvenile Diversion Programme, enabling child offenders to be dealt with by way of caution rather than the formal court system. Current statistics indicated that that programme had been effective in decreasing the number of juvenile offenders.

The Minister for Children commented on the situation of the appointment of a guardian ad litem in relation to public law cases. In relation to custody proceedings as a result of separation or divorce, he referred to the possibility of shadowing the provision of the Children Act 1997 - which had not yet commenced – to represent a child in particular cases. He however remarked that there were concerns about the impact of that measure on the already spiralling costs of such proceedings.

Further Question by Experts

The country Rapporteur remained concerned about the situation of asylum-seeking children and in particular wanted details about what was done to address the issue of the disappearance of such children, which was a common phenomenon in all countries with refugees. She also wished to know about the availability of alcohol to minors, age limits for purchasing alcohol, and bans on alcohol advertising.

Other Experts asked whether there were any statutory requirements for reporting cases of children who were suspected of being abused; what was done in cases in which parents were the abusers; and what recourse there was for child victims of trafficking.

Further Responses by the Delegation

The delegation stressed that the asylum-seeking interview was a very difficult process. It was often hard to understand what the specific case child asylum-seekers wanted to make. In the case of children, a qualified social worker was assigned to help children in preparing their refugee applications. The major task of the social worker assigned was to work towards reunifying such children with their families, who might already be in Ireland. The cases were more complicated when there were no family ties of such children in the country. Each child that went missing was reported to all the related agencies, with their photos and identifying data forwarded to them.

New national standards had been established to allow children in care to learn how to articulate their concerns better, the delegation said, and to learn about their rights in those settings. Children First Guidelines were currently being analysed, which made reporting mandatory for all those working in the area of children who suspected a child was being abused.

The delegation noted that the figures for teenage pregnancies were significantly down according to the latest statistics. There had been significant investment in the Crisis Pregnancy Agency, which had been promoted in a variety of ways, including working with schools, to inform young people about sex issues.

Alcohol was a serious problem in Ireland, the delegation said, despite a licensing regime that limited the number of sales outlets, the health campaigns that had been launched and the heavy taxation imposed on alcohol sales. Another difficulty was the shift in the country from consuming alcohol in pubs to consuming it in the home, which made it much easier for children to access.

Children victims of trafficking would certainly be given refugee status on that basis, the delegation confirmed. In addition, Ireland was now in a position to ratify the Optional Protocol in that regard.

The delegation said children could receive medical treatment without the consent of their parents at the age of 16. The only exception was for mental health issues, where the age was 18. On breastfeeding, there was a National Breastfeeding Week and the issue remained a continued focus of the Health Service Executive.

Preliminary Remarks

LUCY SMITH, the Committee Expert serving as Country Rapporteur, in preliminary concluding remarks, thanked the delegation for the very fruitful dialogue and repeated that she was impressed by what had been achieved by Ireland in a short time on children’s rights. The Committee was looking forward to the reform of the Constitution to allow for the best interests of the child to become the primary consideration in issues affecting them. Regarding asylum-seeking children, she recommended that the delegation read the Committee’s General Comment on the treatment of unaccompanied children outside of their countries.


For use of the information media; not an official record

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