Minister calls for change in society

Fundamental societal change is necessary to protect our future generations, according to the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs, Frances Fitzgerald, speaking at the launch of the Merriman Summer School in Lisdoonvarna on Wednesday.
Minister Fitzgerald highlighted the vulnerability of children and the need for them to be able to trust adults and the system in place to protect them. She also spoke about the Cloyne Report which she said “reveals major systemic failures in how the church dealt with child protection and in how the state allowed such failures to occur.
“We have a lot of work to do to make sure such a breach of trust can never occur again”, she admitted.
“That of course means addressing the child protection issues we have inherited but it also means making sure that neglect, whether through will or ignorance, is addressed,” she added.
Minister Fitzgerald stressed the need for sufficient numbers of social workers and a system that can respond to the needs those social workers will uncover.
“Having worked in the area, I know there is nothing more frustrating for a social worker than to call upon the system to help a child or a family, only to discover the system incapable or unwilling to answer the call. We will not immediately deliver that. The deficit we have inherited is too great to instantly repair. But we will deliver,” she went on.
The minister noted the problems of smoking and drinking among children and the increasing numbers of children who are overweight or obese.
She also touched on mental health problems and cyber bullying. Minister Fitzgerald highlighted recent rioting and looting in the UK, saying that this points to questions as to whether society is really doing enough to fulfil its ­responsibility to Irish children.
“Even those children who appear ‘normal’ can have issues bubbling under the surface, as we saw last week in England, when straight-A students and top-of-their-game young athletes and dancers, aspiring to the Olympic or the West End stage, engaged in rioting and looting. So we must still ask if broader society is doing enough, even nearly enough, to fulfil its obligations to respond to the greater cultural influences, the deeper societal problems not just to protect Irish children but to protect the Irish childhood, to secure their future,” she added.
Minister Fitzgerald said that children’s need for “safety, security, education and opportunity, development and discovery” was not taken seriously enough by the State for generations.
“Arguably, the biggest change we must bring about is one where a child who is abused by a relative has the capability to talk to his or her mum and dad and know that mum or dad will listen.
“We must bring about a change where social workers have the time and training to ask children open questions and then listen with ears and eyes as they answer,” she commented.
“We must create a society where we are open as educators, parents, health workers, social workers, public ­servants and citizens to listen to what our children and young people are telling us, verbally and non-verbally, as individuals and as groups.”
“If the excesses of the Celtic Tiger and the subsequent ­collapse taught us anything, it is that we should never lose sight of what matters.
“Our legacy will not be what we leave behind, it will be who we leave behind,” ­Minister Fitzgerald concluded.
The theme of this year’s conference is Changing Irish Childhoods,