Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Wednesday, 20 November 2019

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Children and Youth Affairs

UN Convention on the Rights of the Child: Discussion

Dr. Niall Muldoon:

The establishment of the Department of Children and Youth Affairs was a very important step forward for children. It is a crucial part, but we also have Better Outcomes - Brighter Futures, which is signed up to by all 17 Departments. That is where we need to drive it through, that each Department, Secretary General and Minister has signed up to those and we need to see that co-ordination happen. The Civil Service itself and the Secretaries General recognise that when they say they will create a pathfinder project that will be the template for other pathfinder projects, but we need to make that happen so that we can begin to co-ordinate more and more rather than say things are jobs for the Department of Children and Youth Affairs or not their own job. This is everyone's job. Children must be central to Government and it can no longer be done through silos. There are ways of doing this and better co-operation and collaboration is done all over the world. That is why I find the pathfinder project in mental health to be a starting point for other collaborations, whether physical health, environment or whatever. There might be six different Departments involved in a scenario such as the digital commissioner and online safety, such as Justice and Equality, Communications, Climate Action and Environment, Taoiseach, Health, and Children and Youth Affairs. A pathfinder project that provides a template that allows that co-ordination can be very beneficial throughout the whole of a child's life.

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