The president of Focus Ireland, Sister Stanislaus Kennedy, has urged the Government to appoint a minister for children. The inclusion of the words `and children' in the Minister for Health's title was simply not sufficient, she said.
She said the number of vulnerable teenagers left to fend for themselves was growing, increasing in Dublin alone in the past year by 100 per cent.
While the debate adults were having about the mandatory reporting of child abuse was important, it was more important that "we as a society recognise that the rights of the child should supersede all other matters and all other rights".
Addressing a parents' association meeting in Limerick yesterday, she said she was concerned that the rights of children did not come first in Irish society.
"What concerns me even further is the lack of a clear national policy and strategy with matching resources from the Government for the care of children. It is a much broader and wider issue than reporting abuse."