Sir, – The Prevention and Early Intervention Network warmly welcomes Leo Varadkar’s announcement (December 17th), in his first speech on appointment as Taoiseach, of the establishment of a child poverty and wellbeing unit in the Department of An Taoiseach to coordinate a cross-Government strategy to ensure each of our children has the best possible start in life.
Placing children –and particularly those who experience poverty and disadvantage – at the heart of Government has the potential to create real and lasting change for our children, who are our nation’s future.
Research shows that children whose parents report poverty in pregnancy are nine times more likely to face adverse and traumatic experiences such as living with parental mental health problems, parental substance misuse and domestic abuse, compared to their more well-off peers.
Our members work to address the impacts of poverty in all its guises on the lives of children and their families throughout Ireland. We know that preventing problems arising in the first place and intervening as early as possible when problems do occur are the keys to success. Waiting for problems to become “bad enough” to intervene is no longer an option.
The work of almost every Government department impacts on the lives of our children and families. Therefore, a centrally led and locally delivered approach has the best chance of success. We must take any integrated approach to addressing the deep-set and systemic issues of child and family homelessness, of food and fuel poverty, of the impact of poverty on lifelong health and wellbeing, of educational disadvantage, of poverty of ambition and poverty of opportunity.
There will inevitably be an opportunity for some quick fixes in the final years of the current Government. While we are confident that, with the right political commitment, much can be achieved, we know that permanently ending child poverty will need a longer-term strategy over at least 10 years. Therefore, cross-party support for and engagement in the work of this new unit will be vital to ensure that its work transcends the lifetime of any one government. – Yours, etc,
FRANCIS CHANCE,
Chairperson,
Prevention
and Early Intervention
Network,
Killester,
Dublin 5.