Sandra McLellan (Cork East, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I commend the Minster for Children and Youth Affairs, Deputy Frances Fitzgerald, on the introduction of this Bill, which was promised by many of her predecessors. The children of this State have waited a long time for this Bill. Many Governments have come in and out of office and left the children of Ireland behind.

This Bill is based on recommendations and guidelines dating back to 1990. The issue of mandatory reporting of knowledge or suspicion of harm to children was first recommended by the Law Reform Commission and later by the Kilkenny incest inquiry in 1993. Six years later in 1999, the then Department of Health introduced national guidelines for the protection and welfare of children. These guidelines were reviewed in 2008 but no legislation was introduced. This means children have waited 24 years for this Bill. I applaud the NGOs and campaigning groups who have continued to work privately and publicly on this issue. It is as much a credit to them as to this Government and the Minister, Deputy Fitzgerald, that this legislation in before us today.

The Bill contains some important aspects, particularly mandatory reporting. This is essential to the protection of children. Unfortunately, the Bill in its current form falls short on other aspects.

There are no sanctions in place for those who fail to comply with the requirements set out in the Bill. The original Heads of Bill published two years ago included a penalty of up to five years in prison for failure to comply with this legislation. I urge the Minster to revisit this. Without any clear sanctions for failure to comply with the Bill it is hard to see how this legislation will be enforced or policed. At best, we will have inconsistency; at worst, more toothless legislation gathering dust. I urge the Minster to address this on Committee Stage.

Much of the abuse now being tackled by society happened in the distant past. The Bill should provide us with an opportunity, rather than limping from one crisis to another, to deal with retrospective allegations once and for all. A key aspect of child protection is the provision of resources to upskill and support those working with children. Sadly, this Bill fails to provide any such resources. This may well create the dangerous situation of the Government believing it has done its best while in the big bad world the Bill will have little or no effect because organisations will not have the resources to train and inform their members. The Bill would be far more robust if resources were made available to meet its demands.

While this Bill will require certain mandated persons to make reports to the Children and Family Agency in relation to harm to children, this demand will need to be underwritten with additional resources for those statutory agencies processing and investigating the reports. There is no point in mandating organisations to report child abuse and child neglect if these reports will end up mounting on someone's desk and never actually receiving the attention they deserve. This is an issue of resources. International experience, particularly in the USA, where mandatory reporting was first introduced in the 1960s, is that this generates increased workload on already under-resourced organisations. The Government must rise to this challenge. Linked to this is the already increasing number of reported cases of child welfare and protection issues. Between 2007 and 2011, the number of reports increased by 36% to 31,626. This is due to the increasing population of children and, sadly, the recession. It is acknowledged that children will be at risk when economic conditions are poor. This Government, because of the policies it is pursuing, must take responsibility for this. Cutting rent and children's allowance will have a real and immediate impact on families and children. A study carried out by TASC in 2012 revealed that the group most at risk of poverty in Ireland - namely, lone parents - lost the highest percentage of income in budget 2011.

Despite the rhetoric from the Government, the truth is that the decisions made by it have had a negative impact on our most vulnerable people. One solution is to equality-proof Government budgets. This would ensure that the most vulnerable in our society, including children, would not be adversely affected by budgets. Equality budgeting is an approach to economic policy making and planning that places equality at the centre of decisions concerning public expenditure and income. Equality budgeting provides information on how different sections of society are affected by specific economic policy measures. The objective of equality budgeting lies in ensuring this information is used to reduce inequality and achieve the best equality outcomes for specific disadvantaged groups and society in general.

Given the disproportionate impact economic policies are having on different sections of society, such as lone parents, women, low-income workers and people with disabilities, equality budgeting should be introduced as a means to halt and reverse the current trend in increased inequality and poverty. Equality budgeting is internationally recognised as an effective tool for addressing poverty and inequality. As poverty and inequality are on the increase in Ireland, it is now essential that equality budgeting be introduced as a matter of urgency. Not only would this benefit Irish society by ensuring political decisions are made on the basis of data and research that clearly establishes the equality implications of economic policies, but it would also assist in making the budgetary and policy process more transparent and participative. The benefits of equality budgeting in terms of increased levels of information, equality and transparency would also allow Ireland to stand by its national and international obligations on the protection and enhancement of human rights. The Irish State has repeatedly committed itself to principles of equality and the protection of economic rights in several human rights instruments, declarations and strategy documents, including the Beijing Platform for Action, the International Covenant on Economic and Cultural Rights, the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women.

In 2013, Sinn Féin produced a Bill aimed at achieving equality-proofing of Government policy, including budgets. Twenty-nine Labour Party Deputies voted against this Bill. Sinn Féin has given a clear commitment not to cut child benefit. The argument that child benefit is paid to families who do not need it is misguided. Child benefit is a payment made to mothers on behalf of their children. It is recognition that all mothers and children are equal. Sinn Féin has always argued that we should tax the parent, not punish the child. If the Government wants to save money it would be better off reforming the tax system rather than cutting child benefit.

A report launched by the Minster for Health in April 2012 shows that 21% of children are going to school without breakfast or to bed without a proper meal. The reality is that the Bill before us today is seriously undermined unless child hunger is tackled by this Government. It is our ultimate vision to roll out school meals to every school. Extending the school meals programme to an additional 500 schools would cost €11 million. This would go some way to eradicating child hunger in this State.

There is also genuine concern expressed by groups, including the Irish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children, that the list of mandated professionals does not cover national organisations which, as their main purpose, work with children and families. Many large organisations are not explicitly mandated to comply with protocols outlined in this Bill. It is essential that all organisations providing services to children take a consistent approach to ensure best practice is adhered to when responding to child abuse and child neglect.

While I welcome this Bill, it has shortcomings that need to be addressed. This Government must play its part in tackling child neglect, particularly child hunger.

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