A DAMNING report shows that the last government “failed” Irish kids and must do more for our “most marginalised children”.
The Children’s Rights Alliance Report Card 2025 grades ministers on their delivery on commitments made by the last coalition of Fianna Fail, Fine Gael and the Green Party.
Children’s Rights Alliance’s Tanya Ward said actions will speak louder than words[/caption]
While the report recognises progress in some key areas, the Alliance said Government failed to keep a number of promises to children.
Tanya Ward, chief exec of the Children’s Rights Alliance, said: “Over the last five years we’ve seen broken promises, leaving some groups of children behind.
“Children and young people already on the fringes of society have been further marginalised by the lack of Government ambition.
“As many of the same political leaders return to their seat for the next five years, there are no more excuses.
“Actions will speak louder than words.
“The commitments to children and young people in the new Programme for Government will only be worth the paper they are written on with political drive, cross-departmental efforts and sustained investment to make them happen.”
The Report Card found the failure to carry through on a commitment to End Direct Provision had the “sharpest decline in performance” — giving the Government an E grade on the subject.
And it received its fourth consecutive “E” on child mental health issues, after an “unacceptable spike” in the number of children on wait lists for Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services — from 2,755 in 2020 to 3,830 in 2024.
Ms Ward added: “For children with special educational needs, their experience is being shaped by difficulties in accessing inclusive and appropriate education.
“The Guidelines for Behaviours of Concern were published in the final weeks of the last Government’s run.
“They do not fully address inappropriate use of seclusion and restraint practices.
“We have heard of children being physically held against their will, locked in rooms alone, even being dragged across the school floor.”
The last coalition also got a D minus on family homelessness at the end of their term.
