The appointment of an ombudsman for children, announced more than a year ago but never implemented, has been called for by an alliance of child-care organisations. The move was announced in December 1996 by the then minister of State for health, Mr Austin Currie. But yesterday a Department of Health official said that priority was being given to setting up a Social Services Inspectorate. It was likely that at some stage in the future the plan to appoint an ombudsman for children would be reactivated, the official told The Irish Times.
The Children's Rights Alliance, which represents 60 child-care organisations, said that an ombudsman for children would give parents an independent body to appeal to if their children were being denied their rights to services. There was no such body at the moment, said its chairwoman, Ms Madeleine Clarke.
The alliance was also critical of the Government for failing to raise public awareness of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.
The Department of Health official said that copies of the convention had been sent to schools and libraries, but that it was a difficult document to make accessible to the public.
Next Monday and Tuesday a Government delegation will be questioned in Geneva by the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child about what it has done to implement the convention. The Children's Rights Alliance had a private meeting with the committee in October, and the Government has been asked to respond to issues raised then.
One of these issues was the need to release more funds to pay for services for children. Ms Clarke said yesterday that not enough money had been made available. The Department official said that an extra £43.5 million a year had been provided to implement the Child Care Act up to the end of last year and more would be provided this year.