Dr. Karen McAuley:

As the Deputy knows, the UN committee's recommendations, published earlier this year, are very wide-ranging. Viewed in broad terms, they cover a number of different matters. First, in the area of legislation, they seek the full integration of children's rights and the principles and provisions of the Convention on the Rights of the Child into Irish law. That is about initiating legislation, amending existing legislation and addressing gaps and deficits in legislation at present. Regarding our role in this, as we have done on many occasions in the past, we will continue to provide advice and developments in legislation affecting children. The core focus of that advice, as the Deputy knows, is on providing a children's rights perspective on the prospective implications of legislation for children. That advice is forthcoming, and we welcome invitations from the committee and others to provide it, as needed.

We will also, in accordance with our remit under the Act, monitor legislation and developments in terms of implementation and review the operation of legislation relating to children. The focus is to see whether commitments in legislation are met, what impact they have on children and whether they give effect to children's rights. That is in accordance with our existing remit and it comes in under our strategy.

The committee spoke about another area in broad terms which is the importance of continuing to raise awareness of children's rights and the implications for those and what the practice of respecting, protecting and fulfilling children's rights entails for all concerned. As the members know from what Dr. Muldoon has said, a core part of our strategy relates to promoting or increasing awareness of children's rights and the process of rights realisation among members of the public, including children and young people, but also very importantly among public organisations and bodies. The committee also spoke about the importance of capacity building. There is an appreciation that if we are to respect, protect and fulfil children's rights, we need to understand what that means in terms of practice, policy, procedure and day-to-day work with and on behalf of children. As well as the reasons our second objective under the strategy is very squarely focused on capacity building, we know from our complaints and investigations work over the years and our children's rights analysis of that work there are ongoing deficits in the awareness of children's rights including in terms of making best interest determinations when making decisions which will impact on children. There are inconsistencies with regard to seeking and hearing the views of children and all of that boils down to deficits in knowledge and understanding. We want to play our part in terms of trying to address that so that people are equipped with the knowledge and skills to be able to apply a children's rights based approach to their own work and decision making. In line with our role as an ombudsman's office which focuses primarily on public bodies, we will be focusing on the public sector and relevant areas there in that respect.

Another area for the committee related to delivering commitments. The committee was very appreciative of the legislative innovation which has taken place in recent years, including the constitutional amendment through Article 42A and also of the policy frameworks and strategies which Ireland has put in place in respect of children. However, it was also very strong in calling for implementation and the need for human resources, financial resources and technical assistance to be given to those who have responsibility for implementing legislation and giving effect to policy frameworks. Perhaps primarily, we will be highlighting through our complaints investigation work where there are deficits in that regard and how they might be addressed. Very often, issues are identified through individual cases. Finally, the committee through its recommendations has identified a strong need to focus on vulnerable groups of children and young people, many of whom the members have referenced in their questions today and who we have referenced in our responses and through the ombudsman's presentation. Our intention is to focus some of our work on some of those most vulnerable groups in the coming years.