Anne Rabbitte (Galway East, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

We are all learning here this evening; that is good.

We all agree there should be a fair start for children. The motion is very welcome and timely. It encapsulates everything from well-being to education and health, social welfare, disabilities, childcare, citizenship and child and family relationships. Deputy Howlin spoke of life experiences, which is something I believe in. I believe it does not matter whether one comes from Dublin or Galway, from a single-parent family, a family with two parents whether same-sex or not, from a four-parent family or raised by one's grandparents; factors such as parents or geography should not define a person in any way.

It has fallen on the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs to come before us but many other Ministers are missing who might be sitting beside her, namely, the Minister for Justice and Equality and the Minister of State at the Department of Justice and Equality, Deputies Flanagan and Stanton, the Minister for Education and Skills, Deputy McHugh, the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection, Deputy Regina Doherty, the Minister for Health and the Minister of State at the Department of Health, Deputies Harris and Jim Daly, the Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government, Deputy Eoghan Murphy, and the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment, Deputy Bruton, because what is needed is a whole-of-Government and a whole-of-Department approach. While the motion is very broad, it is really good and if we want to be serious about moving on after 100 years, we should return here in a few months and discuss this motion with all of the Minister's colleagues in government. Let them all talk to us about the various aspects which we are discussing tonight.

The Fianna Fáil amendment makes a number of calls on the Government. They include facilitating the swift passage of the Parental Leave (Amendment) Bill 2017, allowing for the swift passage of the Shared Maternity Benefit and Leave Bill 2018, immediately commencing Parts 2 and 3 of the Children and Family Relationships Act 2015; immediately implementing actions to ensure no child remains homeless and implementing the affordable childcare scheme, as announced in budget 2019. I acknowledge the Minister has addressed this point eloquently. They also include addressing the extremely lengthy waiting periods that are faced by children awaiting a disability assessment, a subject into which my colleagues undoubtedly will go into depth, increasing the availability of vital disability services for children, including occupational therapy and speech and language therapy and increasing capitation funding to schools around the country, thus reducing the need for parental contributions. This is a point to which Deputy Howlin already has referred. The amendment also calls on the Government to immediately establish a register in order to facilitate adopted persons' access to information surrounding their birth and to enable mutually agreed upon exchanges, in the form of the Adoption (Information and Tracing) Bill 2016, the arrival of which in this House would be welcome. It also calls on the Government to prepare and implement a comprehensive strategy to eliminate consistent child poverty and material deprivation, with clear timeframes for its implementation and to report to the Dáil on this strategy on a quarterly basis.

The Minister and I are used to taking Question Time on a monthly basis. The motion brings it all together well. Some 100 years on, the gaps are shocking. What my party is looking for is not to be critical. I do not want to wait for the future but to deal with the issues in the here and now - the thousands of children who are trying to access services; the number who need to have special needs assistants appointed; and the number who need classroom provision that is properly equipped to deal with them. No child should have to leave his or her community to receive an education. It should be provided within the school. If we need to establish an ASD unit, so be it. Capitation grants must be provided to allow it to happen.

Capacity will be a significant issue in the early years sector in the future. We must ensure we will have the ability to cater for all children, regardless of location. In modern Ireland it is unacceptable that almost one in four children is experiencing ongoing deprivation and that 105,000 children are living in consistent poverty. The experience of poverty and deprivation has a profound impact on a child's ability to develop well and flourish. It also has a profound impact on how a child's life is shaped, how he or she views the future and how he or she is pitched within it. It has a major impact on a child's well-being and mental health and how he or she engages with friends in the school yard.

When the Minister discusses the DEIS model with her Government colleagues, it must be the case that every child will receive a good lunch at school. I have seen advertisements about this recently. A little boy opens a lunchbox and feels guilty about not having a proper lunch. He makes an excuse to go and wash his hands. When he comes back, his lunchbox has been filled by his friends. It was a meaningful advertisement. Children are very aware of the position of others, but we should not put responsibility for sorting out adults' problems on the shoulders of young people. We should try to sort out some of them. My colleague, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, speaks about his school where certain parents bring extra lunches to provide for children who might not have any. The Government should consider this matter.

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