Joan Collins (Dublin South Central, Independents 4 Change)
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122. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if her Department will ensure that the child-friendly booklet on the optional protocols to the Convention on the Rights of the Child will be made available in schools nationwide alongside awareness campaigns (details supplied). [15631/23]

Norma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
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The Department of Education has long supported the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC), which was first adopted in 1989. The Department reports on how it is delivering against the commitments and recommendations that proceed from the Convention and the monitoring by the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child. On 24-25 January 2023, Ireland had its 5th review by the Committee on the Rights of the Child, which is a body of 18 independent experts that monitors States’ implementation of the UNCRC. Ireland’s delegation was led by the Minister of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth.

The booklet referenced by the Deputy was produced by the Office of the UN Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Violence against Children and was first published in 2013. The booklet is one of many produced by the Office of the UN Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Violence against Children, which describe various aspects of the issues contained in the UNCRC, and also about the work and protocols of the UN as an organisation. Apart from a small number of prescribed texts at post-primary, determined by the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment (NCCA), the decisions on which textbooks, programmes and products to use in primary and post-primary schools are taken at school level.

It should be noted that the next national policy framework for children and young people, currently being developed by the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth, will have a strong focus on awareness raising of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. Material, including child friendly material, will be developed under the framework for use by Departments and agencies working with children and young people.