Dáil debates

Thursday, 20 June 2019

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions

 

12:10 pm

Photo of Brendan HowlinBrendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour) | Oireachtas source

To mark the 100th anniversary of the democratic programme of the First Dáil, the Children's Rights Alliance is running a campaign to ensure that the values of that important programme are upheld, No Child 2020. The idea is that no child be left behind.

We do not have to tolerate the extent of child poverty that exists in our country. One in 11 children is living in conditions of consistent poverty according to the Central Statistics Office, CSO. When the former leader of the Labour Party, Tom Johnson, drafted the original Democratic Programme, his vision was of a new role for the State to meet the basic needs of working people, the majority of whom lived in appalling poverty in 1919. The Democratic Programme gave special mention to children, saying that it was the first duty of Government to make provision for their well-being, paramount among the provisions made by the State of the means and facilities for children’s education and training. The Democratic Programme also called on the State to ensure that no child wanted for shelter, clothing or food. The document also highlighted the importance of healthcare and the participation of children in a free Ireland.

The Children’s Rights Alliance has taken just five basic issues for today that it believes could be quickly and realistically addressed to make a significant gesture to honour the centenary of the Democratic Programme and address the real issue of reducing child poverty. Those five asks are that every child has a hot nutritious meal every day; has access to affordable and quality healthcare; has access to free education; can participate in arts and culture in his or her community; and lives in affordable and quality housing. Does the Government endorse these five basic issues as the minimum that the House can set as an objective to achieve for every child in the State on the centenary of the First Dáil? What specific actions does it propose to put in place to ensure that we honour the centenary of the First Dáil by fulfilling these wishes for children?

Comments

No comments

Log in or join to post a public comment.