Eileen Flynn (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I am covering for Senator Lynn Ruane today who kindly allowed me to take her place today. I welcome the ombudsman and his colleagues to the committee this afternoon. This report was such an eye-opener for me. When I heard it discussed on a radio programme, I got shivers down my spine. As legislators and Members of the Houses of the Oireachtas, we must do better. It brought to mind for me the No End in Site report that was published three years ago. There has been little or no implementation of the recommendations of that report. At the education committee I brought up the report because it is shocking to think that children in Ireland in 2024 still do not have equal access to very basic rights. They do not have equal access to education, mental health services or to surgery for life-threatening conditions. Children are on waiting lists for years and are reaching young adulthood having accessed little or no services.

I admire Dr. Muldoon. I have been a Member for the past four years and I have crossed paths with him in various committees. I admire the honest communications from Dr. Muldoon and his colleagues over the past four years. When I was reading his opening statement, I could feel his frustration and I heard it today in the contributions of the three witnesses. They are so honest in saying we need to be doing more for our young people. Who is held accountable? The reports are coming out. It is not about the work of the ombudsman. That work is adequate. It is hard telling the truth. Some Government parties may not want to hear it but we are failing our children in the areas of homelessness, mental health, education and so on. Last week Fr. Peter McVerry had a letter published in The Irish Times. The part that really struck me was that the only public service "available to the poor and vulnerable that does not have a waiting list" is prison. That is a stark reflection of today's society. This time next week I will be going to Oberstown where young people are doing prison sentences. I am sure to God that there is no waiting list in the prison service. That might sound funny but we know that instead of access to mental health supports and good education, children from very disadvantaged areas have access to prison services. What kind of society are we living in today?

The Ombudsman for Children's office will be 20 years old this year and, without that office, you can only imagine the hidden truths we would not know about and would not be discussing at committee level today. To be blunt, we know that CAMHS is not fit for purpose but I mean no disrespect to the staff when I say that. The issue is a lack of funding and a lack of implementation by the Government. I agree with Dr. Muldoon that there should be a stand-alone budget for young people's mental health. The programme for Government contains a commitment to a stand-alone budget for Traveller mental health as well. This Government continues to fail people from minority groups, especially children, and it is not held accountable. What is the solution, if there is one? How do we hold the Government to account in the Ireland of 2024? This is going to continue to happen. There is going to be report after report. Again, with no disrespect to the ombudsman because, without his office's reports, we would not have the facts and the truth in front of us, and we need that, we can have all the reports in the world, gathering dust, but unless we implement the recommendations of these reports, then we will continue to fail children, especially poor children and children from minority backgrounds. I would love to hear the witnesses' thoughts on how we combat this. Who is held accountable, in their opinion?

I also sit on the Committee on Disability Matters. Last week the Minister of State with responsibility for special education was before that committee. After four years, I am at the point where I feel I am bouncing my head off a brick wall and I do not know how Dr. Muldoon has done it for ten years. We have the answers but we need the implementation. We need to make sure we protect the future generations of this country. We should be ashamed of ourselves as a very rich country. In the Government, we have so many Ministers and Ministers of State and yet we do not have implementation. We have Ministers with responsibility for children, well-being, education, special education and so on. I could spend the rest of this committee's time naming the Ministers and I still do not know, as a legislator, where the responsibility lies. The ombudsman can come up with solutions and answers, having worked with communities. His office has done some work with people on the halting site in Ballyfermot, for example. We are seeing children who need services being failed and failed but who is held accountable? What can we do to tackle this? We have enough legislation and enough written on paper. Is there action we can take as a committee and as a society?