{"id":524,"date":"2012-10-01T10:06:17","date_gmt":"2012-10-01T10:06:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/seancrowe.ie\/home\/childrens-referendum-throws-up-new-challenges\/"},"modified":"2012-10-01T10:06:17","modified_gmt":"2012-10-01T10:06:17","slug":"childrens-referendum-throws-up-new-challenges","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/seancrowe.ie\/home\/childrens-referendum-throws-up-new-challenges\/","title":{"rendered":"Children\u2019s referendum throws up new challenges"},"content":{"rendered":"

Children\u2019s referendum\u00a0throws up\u00a0new\u00a0challenges<\/h2>\n

Sinn F\u00e9in\u00a0representative Se\u00e1n Crowe\u00a0TD, has\u00a0 called on the Government to match the sentiment in the proposed Children\u2019s Referendum with the political will and resources to make it a reality for\u00a0Irish children.<\/p>\n

Speaking\u00a0after the\u00a0D\u00e1il\u00a0agreed \u00a0on the wording 31st Amendment of the Constitution 2012, Deputy\u00a0Crowe said;<\/p>\n

\u201cThis\u00a0Constitutional change\u00a0is a step towards cherishing all the children of the nation equally. If the referendum is passed we\u00a0have to\u00a0face up to the obvious\u00a0that it\u00a0will be\u00a0meaningless unless it is matched with resources.<\/div>\n
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The\u00a0safeguarding of vulnerable\u00a0children\u00a0has to be prioritised and resourced.<\/div>\n
\u201cYou could wall paper the corridors of the D\u00e1il with\u00a0 fine flowery\u00a0words regarding\u00a0 what is supposedly\u00a0going to be done regarding the safeguarding\u00a0of\u00a0the\u00a0rights of children.<\/div>\n
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But unless the fine\u00a0words are linked to real\u00a0action they are, literally, not worth the paper they are written on.<\/div>\n
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\u201cWe know that Child poverty under this Government is increasing at a higher level than in Greece.\u00a0\u00a0We know that the\u00a0Government has continued to cut funding to services which provides support and help to families and children.We also\u00a0know that according to the Economic and Social\u00a0\u00a0Research Institute that \u00a0the Government in their\u00a0last budget put a greater emphisis on taxing and\u00a0targeting those families \u00a0on low and middle\u00a0incomes.<\/div>\n
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Child poverty had been falling until 2009\u00a0but\u00a0 it has\u00a0 started to\u00a0spiral out of control\u00a0again. The\u00a0new\u00a0Government since comng to power and despite their loud and\u00a0hollow promises,\u00a0\u00a0has done absolutely\u00a0nothing to reverse this depressing\u00a0trend.<\/div>\n
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\u201cThe Voluntary and Community sector provides the services that the State and Private Sectors cannot or simply will not provide.<\/div>\n
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Whole sections of the population including children\u00a0are dependent on these services\u00a0and the\u00a0Government\u00a0is\u00a0hacking them\u00a0away\u00a0with their\u00a0cuts.<\/div>\n
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\u201cGovernment funding to family support projects has been cut by 17%, Voluntary Housing cut by 54%, Drug Projects cut by 29% and Sports Grants cut by 52%.<\/div>\n
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\u201c\u201cEnshrining Children\u2019s Rights, as this Constitutional wording proposes.will be\u00a0about ensuring that the best interests of the child will be paramount in matters concerning their safety, welfare and guardianship. It will be up to all of\u00a0us, and to legislators now and\u00a0in the coming years, to build on this valuable platform as we strive to ensure that the best interests and welfare\u00a0of the child becomes paramount in all matters.
\u201c.
\u201cThe need to assert and to confirm the rights of children in our Constitution is above party political considerations.\u00a0We should also have \u00a0shared commitment and work together\u00a0to cherish all the children,not just the chosen few,\u00a0of the nation equally.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Children\u2019s referendum\u00a0throws up\u00a0new\u00a0challenges Sinn F\u00e9in\u00a0representative Se\u00e1n Crowe\u00a0TD, has\u00a0 called on the Government to match the sentiment in the proposed Children\u2019s Referendum with the political will and resources to make it a reality for\u00a0Irish children. Speaking\u00a0after the\u00a0D\u00e1il\u00a0agreed \u00a0on the wording 31st Amendment of the Constitution 2012, Deputy\u00a0Crowe said; \u201cThis\u00a0Constitutional change\u00a0is a step towards cherishing all the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-524","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/seancrowe.ie\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/524","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/seancrowe.ie\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/seancrowe.ie\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/seancrowe.ie\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/seancrowe.ie\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=524"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/seancrowe.ie\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/524\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/seancrowe.ie\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=524"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/seancrowe.ie\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=524"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/seancrowe.ie\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=524"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}