Dr Niall Muldoon, Ombudsman for Children

By Suzanne Pender

EIGHTEEN of the 1,812 complaints to the Ombudsman for Children’s Office (OCO) in 2022 were received from families in Co Carlow.

The OCO deals with complaints about services for children and is an alternative to court for those who are not happy with responses they have received from government departments and public services.

Falling behind, the Ombudsman for Children’s Office annual report for 2022, reveals that education was once again the most complained about issue (30%), with bullying, expulsion or suspension and special education resources featuring in many of the complaints.

Significantly, the work of the office in 2022 shows that on many issues, Ireland is starting to fall behind on children’s rights. This was reflected in two major OCO reports to the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) and their subsequent concluding observations, which raised concern about the standard of living and child-poverty issues, mental health services for children in Ireland, the lack of inclusive school places for all children and the state’s failure to integrate children’s rights into legislation.

“2022 and 2021 before it have been the busiest two years for the OCO since our office was established. In total, we received over 1,800 complaints, with 18 of these coming from Co Carlow,” said Dr Niall Muldoon, Ombudsman for Children.

“It is important that children and families in Carlow and in all parts of the country know that the Ombudsman for Children’s Office is here if you need our help or advice. If you have complained about a service and are not happy, come to us and we will help if we can.

“Our annual report this year is called ***Falling behind*** because we wanted to highlight how Ireland is doing in relation to children’s rights and, unfortunately, we’re not where we should be.”