A UN committee on the rights of the child will hear claims next week that the Government is not doing enough to protect children from sexual and physical abuse.
The Children's Rights Alliance, a coalition of 80 lobby groups in Ireland, will tell the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child in Geneva that the Government is failing children across a range of levels.
It will say its most pressing concern is the status of children in the Constitution, and will call for a referendum to include express recognition of children's rights.
Other key areas it will raise concern about include the need to put child protection guidelines on a statutory basis, the treatment of ethnic minority children, and the lack of services for children with emotional and mental health problems.
Jillian van Turnhout, the alliance's chief executive, said: "The Government is failing children on many levels . . . However, the report does more than just criticise. It contains 87 constructive recommendations for action that we believe would make a big difference to children's lives."
The Children's Rights Alliance will make its presentation, titled From Rhetoric to Rights, to the UN committee next Wednesday. The Government is due to account for its progress before the committee in September.
The Government has taken previous criticism by the UN committee seriously. In the last report, in 1998, criticism about the lack of co-ordination in the delivery of childcare services led to the establishment of the National Children's Office and the Ombudsman for Children.
The alliance will also call for guidelines on the reporting of child abuse to be placed on a statutory basis. It says implementation of the guidelines has been sporadic and ad hoc, while a failure to place them on a statutory footing means allegations of child abuse may not be reported.