Mick Wallace (Wexford, Independent)
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To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs the number of childen's wear retailers who have, to date, signed up to the Retail Ireland Children's Wear Guidelines; if she has been active in encouraging retailers outside of Retail Ireland membership to sign up to the guidelines; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [46751/12]

Frances Fitzgerald (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael)
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Earlier this year I issued an invitation to Irish fashion retailers to prepare guidelines to address increasing concerns over the sexualisation of childhood and issues such as body-image. The invitation was taken up by Retail Ireland and on 28 June this year, I launched its new children's wear guidelines. It is important to note that these guidelines are not just about restricting what retailers can sell, but instead provide a more constructive guidance on best practice on a range of issues such as styling, slogans, age-appropriateness, size, labelling and marketing. These guidelines are an important part of a framework to ensure that we deal with some of the issues which are emerging in this area. Retail Ireland has also put in place a follow-up mechanism.

The guidelines are still new, having been launched just four months ago, so it is too early to judge their effectiveness. Retail Ireland has been in regular contact with my Department and will be providing an annual report on progress. The signatories to the guidelines are Arnotts, Brown Thomas, Clerys, Debenhams, House of Fraser, Marks and Spencer, Next, Penneys, Tesco and TK Max, which is quite a range. Heitons are due to sign up shortly. There are some notable companies that have not signed up yet and I have written to some of them asking them to do so.

Retail Ireland members met in early October to discuss the implementation of the guidelines and I understand that an updated report will be presented to me in the near future. I also understand that yesterday Retail Ireland met some parents' representatives to review the implementation and consider some concerns which the representatives had. It is good that the launch has been followed up by the emergence of an ongoing process to review the implementation and compliance.

Mick Wallace (Wexford, Independent)
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I thank the Minister for her reply. Most of us are aware of the fact that the problems in this are have grown in recent years. The move on the part of the Minister and the retail sector is definitely in the right direction but I wonder if there is scope for guidelines such as these to be made compulsory and put on a statutory footing to ensure that childrens' wear retailers prioritise the well being of children over the pursuit of profit.

I understand that Retail Ireland plans to put in place a mechanism to facilitate the reporting of concerns by parents and others through a central e-mail address and also plans to provide an annual progress report to the Minister's office. While this is an improvement on where we were, it does smack of self-certification. Given that most retail outlets are focused on their profit margin more than on any other priority, it would be good if we could monitor the situation independently rather than accept their word for it. I am not accusing them in advance of not being honest but the Minister understands that if we had independent certification and independent monitoring of how things are going, to ensure that best practice is being followed, that would be a good thing.

Frances Fitzgerald (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Deputy for his comments. The approach I have taken, in the first instance, is to have voluntary guidelines which are positive and constructive and the sector has responded well to that. This approach has also been taken in the UK. There are some extras in the Irish guidelines, however, including the central email address for complaints, the review of emerging issues and the annual report to my office. In the first instance, this should be voluntary. The issuing of guidelines is the way to go. I take the Deputy's point that it is self-regulation, with no outside body involved, except myself. However, there is a report to me every year, which is important. I suggest that we see how the guidelines work in the first year, see what the first report on them has to say and identify the concerns that parents may or may not have raised in that year. There has been an enormous welcome for the guidelines from parents and grandparent and it must be said that Irish retailers, for the most part, act very responsibly in this area. People have remarked to me on the changes that have taken place already in relation to the clothes that are available, particularly for children under 13. The intention is to rely on the voluntary approach initially and to monitor that and see how things develop in the course of the year.

Mick Wallace (Wexford, Independent)
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On a different, but related issue, I recently read that an American child beauty contest will come to Ireland soon. I am not so sure that we should start going down this road. I would be very wary about such contests because they really amount to an inappropriate sexualisation of children and that is something we should discourage.

Frances Fitzgerald (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael)
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There has been some comment on that recently and obviously there are increasing concerns over the sexualisation of childhood. Many people would argue, and I would agree, that events such as the one the Deputy refers to encourage the early sexualisation of young children. That is something that can be very stressful and quite dangerous for some children. We have seen what is happening in that context in regard to the Internet and cyber bullying. We must be very careful about this issue and that is why I initiated those guidelines earlier in the year.