From Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth
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The government has today (21 November) launched ‘Young Ireland: the National Policy Framework for Children and Young People’, setting out the policy direction and key priorities for cross government action in respect of children and young people to the end of 2028. The Policy Framework was launched at the Child Summit in Croke Park, and follows on from Better Outcomes, Brighter Futures, which ran from 2014 until 2020.
‘Young Ireland’ sets out current issues impacting children and young people, identified by them, and seeks to create an environment which ensures that children and young people are a central part of everyone’s agenda. It will include a specific spotlight programme to focus on the most significant challenges for children and young people, with resources from across Government. These issues are presented in Young Ireland as Spotlights and the first three spotlights will be on child poverty, mental health and wellbeing, and disability services.
‘Young Ireland’ has been developed through extensive consultation and engagement with children and young people, the general public, civil society, service providers, practitioners, government departments and State agencies. The Framework includes a full indicator set to track progress, this has been recently updated and is also launched today.
The launch is taking place at the first Child Summit since 2016, organised by the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth. This Summit will bring together over 250 delegates including young people to hear from national and international speakers including Dr. Philip Jaffé current member of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child Committee.
Speakers and panellists will cover a wide range of issues concerning children and young people and discuss practical solutions to the highest priorities. Smaller roundtable sessions will provide an opportunity to explore some of the most pressing issues facing children and young people through a child rights impact lens.
Opening the summit, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar said:
"Child poverty is not inevitable, and it is not something that we have to accept. That is why I have made child poverty and well-being a focus of Government, and why I established a Child Poverty and Well-being Programme Office in the Department of the Taoiseach.
"I am very pleased that this work will be a Spotlight focus in this Framework, along with the other very important Spotlights on mental health and disabilities. These Spotlights will bring enhanced accountability to our work in this area, ensuring concrete change in children’s lives.”
Speaking at the summit, Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration, and Youth Roderic O’Gorman commented:
"I am proud of the progress Ireland has made to vindicate the rights of children and young people in recent years. However, if we are to continue that progress, we must listen to children and young people and ensure that Young Ireland focuses on the complex areas where we have not made as much progress as we would hope, and where positive outcomes have been difficult to achieve over a long period of time."
The aims of the Second Child Summit are to:
Young Ireland: the National Policy Framework for Children and Young People (0-24) will cover the period 2023-2028.
This Framework:
Over the lifetime of Young Ireland, Government intends to improve the lives and outcomes of children and young people across Ireland. In order to ensure that we can track progress in this area the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth has developed an updated Children and Young People’s Indicator Set which is also launched today (previously the Better Outcome, Brighter Futures Indicator Set).
The Children and Young People's Indicator Set contains the same indicators as the BOBF indicator set, although in a small number of cases they have been updated to align with the new aims and outcomes of Young Ireland. Data for the indicators has been revised and updated for 2023.
Updates include the addition of a new indicator on e-cigarette usage, reflecting its current relevance. More information is provided for indicators and their sources, including information on the availability of disaggregated data, in particular for marginalised or disadvantaged groups, and the provision of open data. Finally, indicators are now assigned codes for easy reference.
The full indicator set can be found at: Children and Young People’s Indicator Set.
The Statistical Spotlight also published today collates available data from the Children and Young People’s indicator set outcome “Active and Healthy” and gives an international comparison.
The spotlight report shines a light on and collates a wide source of information on how children in Ireland are faring in terms of activity levels and health. The data will be updated periodically and this will allow policy makers and Government monitor progress on the health of our children and young people.
Some of the key findings from the report are: