The UN Committee on the Rights of the Child has expressed a number of serious concerns regarding children's rights in Ireland.
Ireland’s Fifth and Sixth State Report was submitted to the UNCRC in February last year and hearings took place last month.
Government representatives, the Children’s Ombudsman, the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission, a number of non-Governmental Children’s Rights Organisations and minority representative organisations attended hearings in Geneva.
They took place the same week that the Mental Health Commission’s lead inspector Dr Susan Finnerty published her report on Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services.
In its concluding report, the committee has expressed serious concern over insufficient mental health services for children, the "large number of children living in poverty", the low age of criminal responsibility and access of children to justice.
While it welcomed the adoption of the mental health policy in 2020 (Sharing the Vision), it said it was "seriously concerned" about long waiting lists for children seeking mental health services, with some waiting for more than a year for an appointment.
It also expressed concern over the placement of children with mental health issues in adult psychiatric wards.
The committee noted that "the identification of racism and discrimination" is having "the most detrimental impact on the mental health of children of ethnic minority groups" and it says there has been insufficient progress in adopting a Traveller and Roma mental health action plan, despite commitments in this regard.
While it welcomed the Social Welfare Bill 2022 and Roadmap for Social Inclusion and Housing for All policies, the committee said it "remains seriously concerned" about the large number of children living in poverty, food insecurity and homelessness and children of ethnic minority groups who do not have access to child benefit payments, due to the habitual residence condition.
It urged the State to strengthen its policies to ensure that all children have an adequate standard of living, including by increasing social benefits to reflect rising costs of living, expanding the school meals programme and providing nutrition services to address food insecurity.
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It also called for the root causes of homelessness among children to be addressed and requested that the measures to phase out temporary and emergency accommodation schemes be strengthened.
It said there was a need to significantly increase the availability of adequate and long-term social housing for families in need and said an assessment was required regarding the impact of "the habitual residence condition" on children of ethnic minority groups, including Traveller and Roma children and children of African descent.
It also suggested amending social welfare payments accordingly "to ensure that policies do not have a discriminatory effect on such children".
Serious concerns over justice
Another area that the committee "remains seriously concerned" about is in the area of justice.
It noted the low age of criminal responsibility, access of children to justice, the insufficient training of relevant officials, the use of detention and the over-representation of children belonging to minority groups, the limited use of non-custodial measures throughout the State, racial profiling of children by law enforcement and insufficient measures for ensuring the social reintegration of children leaving the justice system.
Recommendations in this area included raising the minimum age of criminal responsibility to at least 14 years of age; ensuring that children below the age of 18 are not prosecuted as adult offenders and consideration towards replicating the child justice court model in Dublin throughout the State, with a view to ensuring that all children have access to a child justice court and/or specialised judges and prosecutors.
It has also recommended systematic training on children's rights and child-friendly proceedings for the judiciary, lawyers, law enforcement officials and other relevant officials working with children in the justice system.
Detention, according to the UNCRC, should be used as a measure of "last resort and for the shortest possible period of time" and reviewed on a regular basis.
The report has also highlighted other concerns, including persistent discrimination against children of minority groups and those in disadvantaged situations.
It has noted a high prevalence of violence against children, including sexual exploitation, online violence and bullying.
The report says there are low rates of reporting, prosecution and conviction in cases of violence against children, and severe delays and inconsistencies in related investigations and insufficient measures to prevent the secondary victimisation of children.
The committee said it was concerned about the lack of information on children who are victims of trafficking and recommended that the State establish a national referral mechanism for the identification and referral of children who are victims of trafficking and ensure their access to psychological support, legal assistance and other support services, in line with the recommendations of the national rapporteur on the trafficking of human beings.
It also said guardians ad Litem, social workers and other relevant professionals must receive training on trafficking and that cases of trafficking of children be investigated and prosecuted - ensuring "appropriate convictions" for perpetrators.
The Department of Children has welcomed that the experts on the committee expressed admiration for how Ireland had received children fleeing Ukraine.
