An extra £50 million would be required to provide facilities for children in neglected and abusive situations this year but only £9 million was allocated to childcare services in the 1998 Budget, Sister Stanislaus Kennedy, president of Focus Ireland, said yesterday. She told a meeting of parents and teachers that the highest increase in the homeless population is among children.
"At any one time in Dublin alone there are as many as 50 or more children in neglected or abusive situations in their homes who cannot be placed in care as there are not sufficient care places for them," she said. "The increase in the number of under 18-year-olds out of home is frightening.
"Our records show that in 1994 there were 352 young people out of home, in 1995 that figure increased to 599 and in 1996 the figure increased again to a horrific 824." Sister Stanislaus said an investment in children was an investment in the future but to neglect them is to create an unstable society.
Investment would cost in the short term but would benefit everyone, including those at the upper end of the income scale, in the long run. "What Ireland needs now is serious investment in our children.
"We need to invest in disadvantaged areas and neighbourhoods."