Aidan Farrelly (Kildare North, Social Democrats)
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805. To ask the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth if she will provide an update on the development of child and youth impact assessments; the work undertaken to date; how these assessments will be rolled out in the development of policy; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [16754/25]

Norma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
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Young Ireland: the National Policy Framework for Children and Young People 2023-2028 sets out actions to make sure that children’s rights are being met and considered when policy is written and implemented, in line with the UN Convention of the Rights on the Child (UNCRC).

To assist public bodies in building an enabling environment, and to ensure that children and young people are a central consideration when making decisions that affect them, my Department is developing a Child Rights and Youth Impact Assessment (CRYIA) toolkit for implementation across Government and Government agencies.

The purpose of a CRYIA is to make sure that an assessment of the impact on child rights is a core part of developing policy, legislation and in decision-making processes. The CRYIA will highlight important opportunities to progress children’s rights and set out actions to safeguard against possible negative impacts on children’s rights. A critical part of the CRYIA process is making sure that decisions about children are based on evidence, and that children and young people’s views are included and factored in appropriately into the decision-making processes.

Building on work led by the Child Rights Alliance (CRA) and funded by the EU Citizens, Equality, Rights and Values Programme (CERV) in 2024, two workshops have been held to date with colleagues from Departments and agencies across Government, in order to better understand how policy makers currently consider children and young people in the policy development process.

My Department is developing a pilot project that aims to test the draft CRYIA tool and guidance document, which will support participants throughout the CRYIA process. It is envisaged that the pilot will take place during the second half of 2025. The findings of this pilot will support the effective roll out of the CRYIA toolkit across Government in 2026.