A national Children's Strategy was launched by the Government in November last. Yet Mr Frank Martin, a lecturer in family law, points out that "disabled children continue to suffer discrimination, particularly in terms of equality of educational opportunity. Child homelessness, begging on the streets and child malnutrition are issues that need to be addressed without delay." In The Politics of Children's Rights, the latest publication in the Undercurrents series, published by the Cork University Press, he tells us this neglect and disregard of children continues in Ireland. The UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, says Mr Martin, was less than glowing about how this State treats its children. Despite this, since the late 1990s, Irish governments have given no more than lip service to both the letter and the spirit of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. Mr Martin adds that the issue will not be high on the agenda during the next general election in a State that has four times more golf courses than children's playgrounds. Nevertheless, Ireland continues to have the highest national rate of child poverty in the EU. The author says an opportunity has been lost to include the issue of children's rights in the forthcoming Nice Referendum. If we are serious about dealing with the issue, then the State must divert funds from social programmes that do not include children to ones that do.
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