Press Releases

Published date: 25 Feb 2025

Next Programme for Government must do more for Ireland’s most marginalised children, as Report Card 2025 highlights gaps left by outgoing Government.

The Children’s Rights Alliance launched its Annual Report Card today (25.02.2025) grading the Government on whether it delivered on its commitments in the now complete Programme for Government: Our Shared Future. The Report recognises significant progress made in key areas over the course of the Programme for Government, most prominently in the areas of early childhood education and care, addressing food poverty and the cost of education. However, the Government failed to keep a number of promises to children.

Speaking at the launch of the Report Card, Tanya Ward, Chief Executive of the Children’s Rights Alliance, said:
“There have undoubtedly been successes when we look at the progress of key commitments in the Programme for Government, particularly in the delivery of universal measures, but over the last five years we have also seen some broken promises leaving some groups of children behind. Housing and health crises have spiralled to record numbers. There are currently 4,510 children homeless, the highest level since data collection began, with no signs of housing supply keeping pace with demand and growing pressures on mental health services has resulted in 3,830 children left on waiting lists for a first appointment with CAMHS.”

“The commitment to End Direct Provision reflects the sharpest decline in performance overall. We have seen the desire to improve conditions for children and young people completely stall. Government failed to keep its promise to end direct provision and worse still, the standards of accommodation have rapidly deteriorated. This is of course against a backdrop of an unprecedented increase in the number of international protection applicants that understandably challenged progress. However, in 2024, we saw a deliberate shift away from own-door accommodation to more institutional settings. In 2024, 6,894 children were living in emergency-style accommodation that does not comply with the Government’s own National Standards that are designed to protect children’s rights. While there are some good examples of accommodation for families, we know that there are children growing up in poor conditions including overcrowding. What is most concerning are the serious child protection issues that have arisen. In one case, four children went missing for 15 days when their parent was hospitalised. Staff were unaware of the children’s whereabouts during this time,” said Tanya Ward.

“Government has also inexplicably failed to implement a key measure well within their power. The International Protection Child Payment could at least provide children and families with some relief day-to-day. With responsibility moving to a new Department, there needs to be a concerted effort by government to step up and do everything in their power to drastically improve the standard of living and refuse to let these children down again.”

“For children with special educational needs, their experience is being shaped by difficulties in accessing inclusive and appropriate education that meets their needs. The long-awaited Guidelines for Behaviours of Concern were published in the final weeks of the Government’s run. However, they do not fully address inappropriate use of seclusion and restraint practices which presents one of the most egregious threats to children’s rights. Parents have shared distressing events of treatment that could amount to degrading and inhumane treatment in some cases. We have heard of children being physically held against their will, being locked in rooms alone, even being dragged across the school floor. The Guidelines are important in focusing on prevention. However, there is a need to more explicitly address what happens here given its potential to seriously violate children’s rights. We need to see a robust inspection regime, supported by child-centred complaints mechanism to bolster their implementation and ensure that families have a route to a remedy without going through Court.”

Report Card 2025 presents critical recommendations to move on commitments that the Government failed to deliver during its term:

• Mental Health (E): The Government receives its fourth consecutive ‘E’ over the course of the Programme for Government. While the number of children admitted to adult psychiatric units reduced significantly to just five in 2024, in the interim there has been an unacceptable spike in the number of children on waiting lists for Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) from 2,755 in 2020 to 3,830 in November 2024. It is positive that the new Government will progress the Mental Health (Amendment) Bill but in its current form, it will place the practice of admitting children to adult units on a statutory footing which is a serious cause for concern.
• Ending Direct Provision (E): Governments’ performance on this commitment presents the sharpest decline over the lifetime of the Government (from a ‘C+’ to an ‘E’). The unprecedented increase in the number of people seeking international protection proved an insurmountable challenge. There was continued use of emergency accommodation which is not subject to National Standards or HIQA inspections, and conditions in permanent IPAS centres deteriorated. Inspections revealed serious overcrowding, widespread pests, and child safeguarding gaps. The lack of adherence to governance and reporting mechanisms also resulted in serious child protection cases being brought into light, including one case in which the whereabouts of four children was unknown for 15 days while their parent was hospitalised. Furthermore, despite securing budget in two consecutive budgets, the Government failed to implement the International Protection Child Payment that would at the very least provide some relief to children and families living in these conditions.
• Family Homelessness (D): In 2024 the Government failed to address the rise in child and family homelessness, with a staggering 4,510 children now homeless. While the delivery of supply hasn’t been sufficient, in 2024 there was an improvement in the number of families prevented from entering homeless services, (2,262 families – 56% of those presenting) and an increase in the number of families leaving emergency accommodation to tenancies. The introduction of the Tenant in Situ scheme that allows local authorities to purchase a property where a tenant faces eviction due to the landlord selling aided this with the acquisition of 1,500 homes in the year.

At the other end of the table, one ‘A’ grade and four ‘B’ grades reflect positive progress made by Government.

“Over the lifetime of the Government, commitments to address the cost of education, reform of the early childhood education and care system and the measures to tackle food poverty stream-rolled ahead of others due to sustained government action and investment in successive budgets, with Government going above and beyond for children and young people,” continued Tanya Ward.

“Back to school costs remain an impending pressure point for families every September, with the average cost for a first-year student amounting to just over €1,000. The Free School Books Scheme has been a gamechanger in addressing these costs and demonstrates that where there is political will and sustained investment, immediate and lasting impact is possible. What started out as a pilot in 102 schools has grown beyond what the government promised and this year, 940,000 students in primary, special and post-primary schools are expected to benefit. This makes a tangible difference to all families, but it is a weight off the shoulders of those living in poverty.”

“Similar success is evident in the Government’s efforts to tackle food poverty. The continued expansion of the Hot School Meals scheme is hugely significant, guaranteeing that 271,842 children receive at least one hot meal a day. For some children, this may be the only hot meal they get in the day. As a result, school holidays can be a period of the year that some families dread as they worry how they will put the next dinner on the table. The cross-departmental effort to address food poverty and ‘holiday hunger’ with urgency will help bridge this gap.”

“The investment made in a child’s first years is pivotal to their future. It is the single most effective action a government can take to the cycle of poverty that holds children back from reaching their full potential. Over the last few years, we have seen the largest investment in the sector made by any Government. In 2024 Government went a step further to target supports at the children hardest to reach in society by launching the new Equal Start model. However, there needs to be a significant boost in future budget allocations to secure the success of this programme. The Government has only scratched the surface when it comes to ensuring that every child has access to affordable, high quality early childhood education and care. Systemic issues of low pay, staff retention and the high cost of childcare for parents, amongst the highest in Europe, will chip away at this progress if they are not addressed by the incoming Government.”

• Free School Books (A+): With this concerted effort to address one of the biggest costs in education and the sustained investment over the past four budget cycles, the Government have delivered beyond their own commitment. 940,000 students at primary and secondary level will benefit from the scheme in 2025 – earning the Government the highest grade awarded across five years of this programme.
• Early Childhood Education and Care (B+): The continued of Core Funding, amounting to €400 million in Year Four of the programme, and an overall investment in the sector at over €1 billion. 2024 also saw the first programme year of Equal Start take shape – a DEIS-type model of early years service provision to reach children in poverty. However, successive budget investment needs to be ramped up to support this targeted intervention to drive real change in a child’s early years.
• Food poverty (B): Over the course of the Programme for Government there has been significant progress in tackling food poverty (grades have increased from a ‘D’ in 2021). 2024 saw the continued expansion of the scheme with 271,842 children expected to benefit from a hot school meal in the 2024/2025 school year. Budget 2025 also saw the Government allocate €1.3 million to address the issue of ‘holiday hunger’ particularly impacting children living in, or at risk of, poverty.
• Child Safety Online (B-): Despite monumental progress made in previous years, implementation in 2024 fell far short of what is required to ensure the timely, effective, and robust protection of children rights in the online environment resulting in the grade dropping from an ‘A’ to a ‘B-’. The Online Safety Code is disappointingly weak as it currently gives online platforms far too much scope and discretion to design their own rules, leaving vulnerable children exposed to harmful and illegal content. More work is needed in areas relating to age verification, robust complaint mechanisms and addressing illegal content specific to children.

“There are positives threaded throughout this year’s Report Card and the recommendations set out a roadmap for the incoming Government to build on the progress that has been made in some key areas to continue to improve the lives of children and young people. However, it is simply not good enough that some commitments have not done well. 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,” concluded Tanya Ward.

Report Card 2025 is available on the Children’s Rights Alliance website here: Report Card 2025

_ENDS_

For more information/interviews contact:

Robyn at [email protected] or 085 800 1275 /
Emma at [email protected] / 087 997 1410

Notes to Editors:

• Tanya Ward is available for interview.
• Report Card 2025 is the fifth and final analysis of Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and the Green Party’s joint Programme for Government: Our Shared Future and how it performed for children in 2024. Report Card 2025 monitors 15 promises to children and young people and has rated the Government on its efforts in 2024.
• The increased need being placed on an already overstretched CAMHS, meant that there were 3,830 children on a waiting list for CAMHS services in November 2024.