Kathleen O'Meara (Labour)

I have not got the Minister of State's wisdom or his legal background. There has been significant progress in this area. The Government has taken on the issue of child care, although not to the extent I would like. One area missing attention is preschool education. Will the Minister of State consider the failure of the Government to take on the possibility of providing a pre-school place for every child, not only from an economic point of view, although that is important, but also in terms of what it would make available to all our children? I would have no difficulty, for example, with rolling out the scheme in a way that would ensure disadvantaged areas were the first to benefit. It would make a great difference to families in disadvantaged areas if their children could access good quality pre-school education because education allows us to begin levelling the playing field. By tackling child poverty and offering children equal opportunities to participate, we will give our youth the chance to reach their potential as participating members of the community. However, commitment and investment will be needed if we are to succeed. I do not doubt the Minister of State's commitment in that regard but I wonder why the Government has not addressed the issue because, while private provision is generally good, it cannot replace a system in which every three year-old child can expect automatic access to pre-school education, regardless of his or her family circumstances.

Significant progress has been made on child care with the establishment of the Office of the Minister for Children and the Ombudsman for Children. However, the range of the ombudsman's powers remains limited. The exclusion of children in detention or prison from the ombudsman's remit is a serious shortcoming because the children concerned are vulnerable and need representation and support. As the Minister for State's boss once famously said, it s a case of a lot done but more to do.

The report by the UN committee highlights the misses — I will not use the word "failures" because that may be too harsh — in the Government's approach to children. The committee criticised the revised age of criminal responsibility, which provides that children as young as ten years of age may be found guilty of serious criminal offences, from the perspective of the provisions of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.

Many of the provisions of the Children Act 2001, including alternatives to detention for children through community and other sanctions, have yet to be implemented. We need to consider the unimplemented provisions in the Act on child justice in the context of the apparent increase in anti-social behaviour by relatively young children. I am sure the Minister of State is currently knocking on doors, as are I and all the other Members who wish to serve in the Dáil after the next general election. It is a feature of many estates, and local authority estates in particular, that people feel terrorised by gangs of children. Hallowe'en was a nightmare for a lot of people, although the fact that children were off school for a week puts the matter in context. I am referring not only to older people here, because I met three single mothers living in the same estate who told me that a brother of one of the women had to rescue them on Hallowe'en night from the intimidatory actions being perpetrated outside their front doors by 12 to 14 year old children. Given the considerable efforts that went into the Children Act and the fact that several excellent provisions contained in the Act remain to be implemented, it is time to reconsider the issues.

The UN committee expressed concern at the plans to introduce biometric identity cards for children under new immigration legislation. While I will not dwell on that matter, I wish to raise the issue of accommodation and care of unaccompanied minors who seek asylum. Concerns have been expressed to me by people who work in this area that the hostel accommodation being provided is inappropriate.

An issue which emerged during the summer was that a shortage of appropriate places resulted in children who were in care and about to attend court hearings being accommodated in hotels or bed and breakfasts and looked after by social workers or other HSE employees who worked in institutions during the day and stayed with the children during the evening. This situation was reported to be prevalent in the midlands, although not in my area. The Minister of State is looking at me with scepticism.