Ireland's Children: Second Class Citizens?

c/o Barnardos.it

THE ERA of treating Ireland's children as "second class citizens" could and should soon be over. 

This is the view of Fergus Finlay, CEO of Barnardos and long-time children's rights activist, on the upcoming Children's Referendum. Mr Finlay is one of the most vociferous supporters of the referendum.

He feels the constitutional amendment, if ratified, will aid in ending the current situation in Irish society whereby children are often treated as sub-par members of the community. 

He is firmly of the belief that such a referendum is long overdue and he admits to being continually frustrated by "the notion of a society that pays lip service to equality". He made the comments while speaking at NUI Galway this week.

The amendments to the Constitution proposed in the referendum aim to ensure that all children are recognised in their own right; protected from abuse and neglect; and will benefit from equal rights and protections, regardless of the marital status of their parents.

Mr Finlay is all too aware that parental neglect is by no means the only form of abuse faced by children.

He cites the Ryan and Murphy Commissions - both of which dealt with the sexual and physical abuse of children in Ireland at the hands of the Catholic Church - as evidence that the State is "adept at turning a blind eye" to the institutional and systematic abuse of children.

Barnardos, Ireland's leading children's charity, runs over 40 centres in local communities across the country, working with vulnerable children and their families. Their only direct facility for adults is the Barnardos Service for Survivors of Abuse.

The aforementioned reports are not alone in exposing state and institutional corruption. Mr Finlay notes the importance of the media in shining a light on the gross misconduct that permeated so many aspects of Irish culture for a prolonged period. 

He views the work of the late Mary Raftery as a prime example of the huge impact a journalist can have on societal change. Her documentaries for RTÉ - States of Fear (1999) and Cardinal Secrets (2002) - led to the setting up of the aforementioned commissions. In doing so, Mr Finlay feels they aided in bringing the 'kissing the ring' culture in Ireland to a halt, whereby the Government bowed before the Church in an unapologetic and widely unquestioned manner that led to the horrific abuse of approximately 100,000 children.

Barnardos is funded by the state to a "bog standard level", according to Mr Finlay. The organisation bridges the financial gap between the money they receive and the money they need through fundraising. In 2011, they recorded losses of €1.5 million, following a nine per cent decline in donations. Total revenue at the charity fell from €24 million to €23.9 million, while employee costs increased from €16.9 million to €17.1 million.

In a bid to save money, the charity closed all its services and put its staff on unpaid leave for one week last August. Mr Finlay has warned that the funding cuts being imposed across the NGO sector have the potential to do “untold damage” to vulnerable children and families.

It seems quite the juxtaposition that the State is attempting to improve the lives of its children with the referendum while concurrently cutting vital funding for the organisations that aim to end the chronic poverty in which many of them struggle to survive. Unfortunately, it seems likely that some of our young people will remain second class citizens for the foreseeable future.