Frances Fitzgerald (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael)

My Department is developing a new strategy for children and young people. It will build on Our Children - Their Lives, Ireland's first children's strategy which was published in 2000. It will cover the period 2012-17. It is being developed in a holistic way to comprehend the continuum from early infancy, through early and middle childhood, to adolescence and early adulthood, in keeping with the Department's responsibility for children and young people.

For the first time we will have an early years strategy and I intend to appoint an expert group to advise me on this area. It is surprising, and tells us quite a lot, that we do not have a comprehensive early years policy strategy for young people in Ireland. It is needed and I intend to ensure that, under the new children's strategy, we have a comprehensive early years policy framework in place.

I want to ensure the new policy framework deals with emerging issues which affect children, like the impact of new technologies, the media and consumerism. It is important that we have a very broad approach to the development of the new strategy. It also has to be cross-departmental because while we have certain core functions which have been taken into the new Department of Children and Youth Affairs, there are also important linkages which need to be made.

For example, it is important that action is taken on obesity across a number of Departments, such as the Departments of Arts, Sport and Tourism; the Environment, Community and Local Government; Health; Education and Skills; and Children and Youth Affairs. If we do that we will get a fresh impetus and a whole Government approach to dealing with issues such as child poverty and healthy lifestyles.

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