More than 12 Irish children are currently in childcare facilities abroad, according to the independent organisation, Barnardo's.
More foster-places must be provided for children needing care and child protection workers should operate on a 24-hour basis, says a document launching a £5 million three-year plan for Barnardo's.
"The weekly cost of detaining a prisoner in Ireland is almost £1,000," said its chief executive, Mr Owen Keenan. "Barnardo's holds to the principle that prevention is better than cure. Let's review our approach and tackle social problems in the formative years, instead of paying the cost further down the road," he said at a press conference to launch the document. There are no out-of-hours child protection emergency services outside the Dublin area, the document says.
On the availability of services, it says that "some Irish children who have been abused are now in care abroad, while others have been accommodated in hospital wards".
It says that "today's Irish child has an almost 30 per cent chance of living in a household where the family income is less than half the national average.
"That's a quarter of a million disadvantaged youngsters under the age of 14. Surely they deserve better from an affluent society?"
In addition to poverty, children face "the growing instability of family relationships: lone parenthood, violence, sexual abuse, suicide - the end of the millennium would not seem to be a great time for many children in Ireland".
It urges "a national co-ordinated strategy to make Ireland a better place for children, and the resources to support that strategy". Barnardo's includes daycare centres, parenting programmes and youth action projects among its services for children and families.
The organisation is to manage six new family-support projects in local health board areas, funded by the Government.
It aims to raise £5 million over and above what it gets from the Government over the next three years to expand its services.
It spends less than 5p in the pound on administration, it says.