Fintan Warfield (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I was in the Mansion House this morning where the Children's Rights Alliance announced the report card on the Government's progress in implementing the programme for Government. The State was commended on making progress in dealing with childcare and lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender, LGBT, rights, but it received the lowest grade possible in dealing with child homelessness. It struggled in dealing with children's mental health services and the rights of Traveller and Roma children. The Children's Rights Alliance noted the increase in the number of children in emergency accommodation from 1,600 in 2015 to almost 4,000 today.It called on Government to declare a state of emergency, for local authorities and State bodies to provide for adequate long-term social housing and to take children out of emergency accommodation. It noted the extremely long waiting list in the child and adolescent mental health services, CAMHS, and the delays in implementing A Vision for Change. It called on Government to ensure that all children had access to mental health services in a timely manner and to carry out a progress report on A Vision for Change.

A couple of weeks ago I questioned the local authorities' underspend on Traveller-specific accommodation. The impact on children was noted in the report. We also urgently need to see the publication of the report by the Traveller accommodation expert group.

I have mentioned several issues concerning children. The Department of Children and Youth Affairs has probably set the standard for engaging with sectors and outreach. I am sure the Minister, Deputy Zappone, would be happy to come into the House to discuss some of the failures in Government but also the improvements that have been made.