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Cherising Childhood

The Challenge

Childhood is precious. Childhood is the time when children begin to encounter the world and learn how to learn. Childhood should be a safe and protected time, when every child is nurtured and allowed to develop to the fullness of their human potential.

Yet, as a country, our record of protecting children and childhood is poor. We have a terrible legacy of institutional and other abuse, with which our society must still cope, and we have not yet established the Rights of Children in our constitution.

One in every nine children lives in poverty. As the children's author, J.K. Rowling has written "Poverty is a bad place to live on your own, but the worst place on earth if you have a child with you". Child poverty results in incalculable loss of human potential, and stores up problems for which society continues to pay for decades.

There are deep deficiencies in our health service that severely affect children. Across a range of areas, the provision of health services, including mental health, operates on an emergency basis, rather than on a preventative base. We repeatedly fail to tackle problems before they become acute, whether it be in terms of basic developmental checks, or the provision of a child psychology service in our schools. Irish children suffer from some of the worst rates of alcohol and drug abuse in Europe. Suicide among children and young adults is a growing reality of Irish life.

Childcare policy, in so far as it exists, is work-focused, rather than child focused. Our society places too much strain on the families of young children, to balance the need to earn a living and still have time for each other. There is no structured system of preschool education and the schools to which we send our children are under-resourced, over-crowded and poorly designed.

That protected space of childhood is being encroached on by pressures of commercialism, including the premature sexualisation of young people. Family life is under the increasing strain of longer commutes and less time at home, which places strains on both parents and children.

Sport, recreation and play are central parts of a child's life, just as is the development of artistic ability and awareness. Again, provision in these areas has a long way to go before Ireland can claim to be offering the best to our children.

Ireland can do better

Ireland can and should be the best place in the world to be a child. An Irish childhood should mean protection and security, nurturing and opportunity. Irish children should benefit from every possible educational and developmental opportunity, and we should not wait until problems become acute before we help a child.

What Labour will do

Constitutional Change

Labour shares the commitment of all political parties to put to the people, as a priority, an appropriate constitutional amendment to enshrine in explicit form the rights of the child.

The wording will reflect the special vulnerabilities and dependencies of children and the consequent obligations owed to them, both by their families and by the State, and will conform to the requirements of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.

Labour is also committed, within 12 months of entering office, to bring all child protection legislation, including the Children Act 2001, finally into force and to adequately resourcing that legislation.

Social welfare proposals for children

Child poverty leads to an incalculable loss of human potential.

We will:

In the context of developing policy on support for families with children, including the early years subsidy, FIS and CDAs, we will examine reform options including a supplementary child benefit.
We will substantially improve rates of payment under the Back to School allowance scheme, introduct a once-off payment for children entering second level education and review the income limits.
Restructure support for one-parent families to enable those parenting alone to meet their obligations, support themselves in work and, if they choose, form sustainable relationships.

Broadcasting And Advertising

Labour believes it is inappropriate for advertisers to target children, particularly where the advertising is promoting goods such as fast food which may be injurious to a child's well being. Children are entitled to a childhood that is, as far as practical, free from commercial pressures.

Accordingly, Labour will:

Mandate RTÉ to provide a number of periods of children's programming during the day when there would be no advertising.
Work at European level towards a ban on advertising aimed at children
Prevent schools from becoming vehicles for commercial advertising. We will introduce a code of practice for schools to restrict this form of activity. Childhood should be a safe and protected time, when every child is nurtured and allowed to develop to the fullness of their human potential.

Childcare and Pre-school Education

Labour is committed to the creation of a national child-centred learning-focused system of childcare and pre-school education which supports parental choice, and which puts children first.

Our proposals fall under five headings:

Pre-school education

Provide one year of free pre-school education (five half days per week) for every child.

Time to be a Parent

Move towards paid Parental Leave, modelled on Maternity Benefit, for up to one year, with an option for fathers to take part of that time.
A legal right to take up to three years career break. We will explore appropriate fiscal support for employers.
A right to part-time work, subject to reasonable conditions.

Meeting the Cost to Parents

We will progressively increase early childhood payments so that families receive €50 per week per child, from expiration of maternity leave to the child entering state-subsidised preschool, and €25 per week when the child is in their pre-school year and in primary school.

Childcare Places

Work with providers to expand the number of childcare places.
Provide childcare facilities established and run directly by the state, or other non-profit entities.
Ensure that childcare facilities are integrated into plans for residential developments.
Where possible develop childcare facilities at or near primary schools.
Build childcare and early education facilities into plans for new primary schools.
Increase support for childcare centres in disadvantaged areas.
Promote supervised after-school activities in schools and a wide range of positive after-school options for children.
Ensure adequate provision of primary school places, to prevent feedback of pressure on childcare places.

Enhancing Quality

Develop standards for childcare which include developmental and educational goals, not just bricks and mortar regulations.
Require registration of all childcare facilities and providers, including for over-6s, as the basis on which there can be positive engagement to enhance skills.
Promote the registration of childminders, and awareness of the income disregard scheme, to provide a basis for positive engagement to enhance the quality of childminding.
Develop outreach services to enhance the skills of childcare workers and childminders, linked to resource centres supporting networks of childminders.
Require care-settings to include outdoor play areas.
Develop an inspectorate of facilities comprised of childcare professionals.
Develop a system of information and consultation with parents.
Develop a quality-mark system for childcare facilities.
Garda clearance for all childcare staff.

Health Care for Children

Access to health care is a real issue for children. In general, there is a failure to develop early warning systems and preventative approaches, and there are deep inequalities in access to healthcare among children of different backgrounds. Labour favours more focus on early diagnosis of developmental and health problems (including mental health), and speedy action to cut waiting lists for children.

We will:

Provide free health insurance for every child up to age 16.
Provide a GP visit card to all children up to age 5.
Extend medical eligibility to 40 per cent of the population, increasing income thresholds so as to favour families with children.
Ensure that the necessary specialists are recruited to bring provision for all children up to the highest standard.
Ensure adequate numbers of public health nurses are in place to carry out routine developmental checks for all children at appropriate stages.
Increase the number of national educational psychologists to 400 within the first term of government and allocate a full-time educational psychologist to schools on a clustering basis.
Act to solve the crisis in child and adolescent psychiatric services by increasing specialist out-patient teams by 50 per cent and bringing established teams up to the recommended staffing complement.
Ensure early intervention including a Youth Mental Health Initiative aimed at teachers and other adults who have frequent contact with young people.
Develop specialist child and adolescent intellectual disability services, establish specialist eating disorder services, develop multi-disciplinary teams nationally to deal with addiction and increase the in-patient facilities to meet the needs of the 0-15 year-old age group and the in-patient needs of the 16-17 year-old age group.
Tackle childhood obesity through education and measures to promote sport and exercise.

Art and Sport For Kids

A comprehensive programme for investment and reform in our schools is outlined elsewhere in this document. But learning is not confined to the formal curriculum. Children also benefit enormously from sporting and artistic activities which take place in the school, or a club, or in their local community. Labour is determined to support these activities. Our proposals on the Arts and Sport are set out in detail elsewhere in this manifesto. Particular measures of relevance to children include:

Vouchers for music lessons at primary level to ensure where practicable, 30 hours of free tuition by qualified teachers is available to all students during one designated year.
Coordinated strategies for Youth Arts development between relevant government departments and agencies.
Making PE a Junior and Leaving Cert Subject, with points for college entry.
Continued expansion of the number of community playgrounds. 66 The Fair Society - Labour Manifesto 2007

Youth Initiative

Labour is committed to giving all our young people the best chance in life.What young people do in their free time has significant implications for their development as adults. Labour is proposing to establish after-school and summer recreation programmes for young people. These programmes will offer young people the opportunity to engage in positive and constructive activities during their spare time. It is also hoped that these activity programmes will function as youth diversionary programmes, deterring young people from becoming involved in crime and anti-social behaviour.

What we will do:

Establish arts and sports-based after-school and summer recreation programmes which will provide diversionary and supervised activities for young people.
School buildings will serve an important function as the focal point and primary location for many of the the youth schemes, providing halls, basketball courts, pitches/fields etc. We will address insurance costs by embarking on a broad review of the school insurance system.
In addition to school facilities, the schemes will work in partnership with local community sports clubs, making use of facilities such as GAA, soccer and rugby pitches, tennis courts and swimming-pools.
The schemes will be staffed in part by third-level students in a system similar to the Student Summer Job Scheme that ran successfully from 1993 to 2002. In addition to third-level students, the schemes will employ a small number of more senior staff experienced in working with children or in sports organisations to manage each individual programme.
The schemes will be run at a local government level. Labour will appoint a full-time youth recreation co-ordinator for each local authority. The main responsibility of the post will be to co-ordinate the schedule; employ staff; and liaise with school representatives, local sports clubs, the Gardaí and other relevant parties in designing and running activities.
Labour will ensure that schemes are attended by adolescents from a wide range of social backgrounds.
We will tailor activities to meet the interests of young people by consulting with young people prior to setting up the scheme and during operation of the scheme.
The schemes will include a wide range of sports and activities to appeal to boys and girls of different ages.

Youth Work

Labour will ensure the full and complete rolling out of the 2001 Youth Work Act and the 2003-2007 National Youth Work Development Plan. We will support a new Youth Work Development Plan for 2007-2011.We are committed to a vibrant and active voluntary youth work sector. We want to see an enhanced partnership between local voluntary youth services and VECs based on mutual trust and a shared vision. In particular we will support this model by:

Developing quality, relevant and accessible facilities and services for young people. There should be a quality multi-purpose youth facility in every major urban centre with more than 5,000 people.
Combining relevant funding from Youth Affairs, Young Peoples Facilities and Services Fund, other exchequer sources, local authority funding, private sector capital, philanthropic funds and new public resources where necessary to support these quality facilities and services.
Providing for properly resourced staff to run facilities and services.
Using resources from the above to create for the first time a capital fund for youth work and youth services at local level.