The new Ombudsman for Children, Ms Emily Logan, yesterday stressed that she would run a completely independent office when she took on the new role.
Ms Logan, who is currently director of nursing at Tallaght Hospital, said she hoped to begin her new job before the end of March.
After she learned of her appointment in December, she spoke to her counterparts abroad and they all emphasised "the concept of the independence of the office as an absolute imperative that couldn't and shouldn't be compromised", she said.
"And that certainly will be one of my priorities."
Ms Logan said she would also strive to keep a balance between her dual role as an investigator of complaints and a promoter of children's rights.
She was speaking at the launch of a report recommending the priorities for her office. The office of the Ombudsman for Children: international learning and priorities for Ireland was commissioned by the Children's Rights Alliance, an umbrella group for organisations working with children.
The report calls on the Ombudsman to promote the extension of the medical card to all children.
"The question was asked: 'if we can set standards for educational attainments for children and make schooling compulsory, why are good health outcomes for children seen as optional?'" said the report's author, independent consultant Ms Anne Colgan.
The report urges the Ombudsman to make children in care her priority, and to advocate on behalf of children who are homeless, growing up in B&Bs or living on the roadside.
Ms Colgan said children were still being placed in B&Bs despite the knowledge that this type of living situation could trap children in a cycle of poverty.
Her report highlights the work of Ombudsmen for Children in several countries.
All such ombudsmen saw their offices as human rights institutions.
Norway had "almost startling" examples of how the Ombudsman could begin a public debate, Ms Colgan said.
The Norwegian Ombudsman for Children, Mr Trond Waage, had recently started a debate on smoking, with the emphasis on the ethics of exposing children to passive smoking.
He was now floating the idea that children should be given the right to vote from birth, which could, in early years, be exercised on their behalf.
Ms Colgan said Mr Waage accepted that the idea might not be accepted overnight but he believed that "someday, something along these lines will happen".
The Norwegian Ombudsman was also on a mission to end bullying in schools within two years.
Ms Colgan said the Irish Ombudsman would have to create a culture of respect for children, as children felt that they were neither respected nor trusted by many adults.
Ms Colgan said the budgets for Ombudsmen varied from country to country, but €3 million a year was an average figure for a country with a young population of this size.
The office of Ombudsman for Children was allocated €282,000 in the Estimates for the Department of Health for 2004, but a spokesman for the Department said this could increase if the number of staff recruited demanded it.
