Victor Boyhan (Independent) | Oireachtas source

Okay, three minutes. All of these relate to children. The chief executive of Barnardos, Mr. Fergus Finlay, spoke in some detail this morning on the launch today of its "Lost Childhood" campaign. This is an important campaign and I looked at the heads of it this morning to see what it is about. It talks about an equal start, equal access and equal opportunity for every child. That is the key campaign message. I refer to equal access to education, health and child care. Everyone is entitled to that equal start.

It was interesting to see in the figures today that 3,000 children are classified as homeless. I spoke yesterday on the Order of Business about the 52 children waiting for consultants with the National Treatment Purchase Fund. All of this is around children and it important. I do not doubt the Government's commitment but we need to emphasis and re-emphasis the importance of every child having an equal start to realise their full potential and to feel loved, cared for, secure and safe. That is the objective of all of us in both Houses. It is something we need to keep at the centre of our political deliberations. It is important.

Mr. Finlay also referenced Project Ireland 2040 and child care on RTÉ this morning. It is important we focus on that as well. I also want to talk about the hospital figures. It is important we have some confirmation from the National Treatment Purchase Fund because there are different figures from different sources. It is important we have correct figures on the number of children waiting for a year and a year and a half.

To conclude, I want to raise an issue I have raised before. I refer to Caranua. For those who do not know, it is a statutory body responsible for administering services and funds for people who were victims of abuse. It arose from the national residential institutions redress scheme. There is much disquiet about this organisation. It is important we have another look at Caranua. We see what its terms of reference are. Do they need to be adjusted? Do they need to be changed?

I started off talking about children. I always use the analogy that we see the world from where we stand and our experiences within it. The people at the other end of the spectrum were the children of the 1930s, 1940s, 1950s and 1960s who are now having to avail of the services of Caranua. They are telling us they are not getting the support, the housing and the holistic supports needed. We need to look at that organisation again.