In its Concluding Observations on Ireland’s Initial Report, published in 1998, the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child (the Committee) made 17 substantive recommendations calling for changes in law, policy and/or practice in the State.

Since that time, the State has made significant progress in implementing a number of these recommendations including through the development of the first National Children’s Strategy, the establishment of the National Children’s Office and more recently the Office of the Minister for Children; the development of child well-being indicators, and the establishment of an independent monitoring mechanism that is the Ombudsman for Children. However, much remains to be done in order to address fully the concerns expressed by the Committee in 1998. Indeed, in its report, the State has acknowledged that ’putting children at the heart of policy and practice is a new way of working and is at an early stage of development’.

In this report, submitted to the Committee in the context of the examination of Ireland’s Second Report to the Committee, I reflect on the advances made since 1998, on new issues and on outstanding concerns.

A fundamental issue is the legal status of children under the Irish Constitution. Notwithstanding the Committee’s calls in 1998 for this issue to be addressed, children are still not recognised as individual rights holders under the Constitution. The inferior legal status of children under the Constitution is at the root of many of the difficulties still faced by children, particularly those most vulnerable, in Ireland today.

Given that my Office is only operational since May 2005, this report aims to bring to the attention of the Committee concerns expressed by children and their families, either through the complaints function of my Office or through direct contact with children. My report does not take the form of a shadow report, but rather focuses on particular areas of concern in respect of which my Office has a unique perspective to contribute.

I hope that this report, the first from an Ombudsman for Children in Ireland, will be of assistance to the Committee in understanding the national context relating to children’s rights and will inform the pre-sessional meeting to be held in June and the State examination in September 2006.