DIVORCE, DRUGS, alcohol abuse, bullying and the bad weather are some of the worst things about being a child in Ireland today.
But we don’t have wars, everyone has a roof over their head and there are less rules and restrictions than in other countries.
These are some of the views expressed by the first group of young people given the chance to participate in a consultation for a new National Children’s Strategy.
Minister for Children Frances Fitzgerald launched the consultation process yesterday and said she hoped the strategy would be in place by December.
She said the national consultation was a good opportunity for children to inform politicians and civil servants about their needs, wants, hopes and ambitions.
Erika, a 12-year-old who got the chance to fill out one of the consultation forms, drew a picture of her family inside a large heart. Her parents are smiling and happy but she is looking sad in the picture.
“One of the worst things in Ireland is that there are lots of divorces,” she said.
“But we don’t have any wars here, which is good . . . If I could change one thing I’d like to stop people dying of diseases,” she said.
“I’d change the weather,” said Holly, a 12-year-old sitting next to Erika.
She said that one of the worst things was that children were getting less pocket money because of the recession. Family and friends are some of the best things about being a child in Ireland.
Judith, a 12-year-old pupil at Loreto National School in Crumlin, said that the best thing about being a child is not having to worry about paying bills or taxes.
“But we do have to worry about whether our parents have jobs or not these days,” she said.
“If I had to change one thing it would be the food in hospitals. My cousin is in hospital and the food is terrible,” she said.
Brandon, a 12-year-old at Scoil Chaitríona National School, which hosted the launch of the consultation, said there was too much drug and alcohol abuse in his area.
The consultation will take place in all 4,500 schools in the State from April 4th-8th. It will be used by Government officials working on a new National Children’s Strategy 2012-2017.
Ms Fitzgerald said that the State had failed children over the past century and turned the lives of many children into childhoods defined by “torture and terror”.
“We have been further shamed to see that we cannot even consign those horrors to the past. In this century, in this decade, children have slipped through the cracks of a failed system,” she said.
“My Government will not simply receive reports, shake our heads and do nothing as our predecessors did. We will act,” she said.
Ms Fitzgerald said that she hoped a referendum to bolster children’s rights could be held before the end of the year. She also confirmed that plans to remove child welfare and protection services from the HSE to a new executive agency were already in train.
She said the new child protection body would be dedicated to stripping away the procrastination, deception and evasion that allowed abusers go unpunished.