CHILDREN'S RIGHTS campaigners have called on the Government to invest more in pre-school education following a damning international report which shows Ireland lagging behind most developed countries.
The United Nations Children's Fund (Unicef) report sets down 10 minimum standards for protecting the rights of children during what it says are their most vulnerable and formative years.
The best-performing country is Sweden, which meets all 10 benchmarks. However, Ireland, alongside Canada, is the bottom of the table and meets only one of the 10 benchmarks.
Unicef says Ireland will need to at least double its current level of expenditure on early childhood services if minimum acceptable standards are to be met.
"High-quality early childhood education and care has a huge potential to enhance children's cognitive, linguistic, emotional and social development," said Unicef Ireland's executive director, Melanie Verwoerd.
"It can help boost educational achievement, limit the early establishment of disadvantage, promote inclusion, be an investment in good citizenship and advance progress for women."
The report says the returns on early childhood education and care can be as high as €8 for every €1 invested by providing better outcomes for children later in life.
The Government, however, has disputed some of the findings. Minister for Children Barry Andrews said some of the figures were out of date, while he said the report did not take into account the number of children cared for in the home.
The Minister claimed Ireland did better than reported in terms of tackling child poverty and providing childcare places, but he agreed that more needed to be done.
He added: "That the majority of Irish parents choose to care for their children themselves or by a relative should not be criticised. What must be strived towards is the option to access quality childcare and early childhood education, if so desired. I believe we have taken giant steps to present this choice to Irish parents. I am of the view that we have a strong foundation on which to build."
Responding to the report, the Children's Rights Alliance said the Government was focusing on providing childcare places rather than focusing on the quality of education. "Current regulation is solely focused on health and safety while it neglects quality," Jillian van Turnhout, the alliance's chief executive, said.
"There is no specific regulation which outlines the qualifications, competencies or skills required to work in a childcare service and there is no national quality assessment or accreditation system for childcare services that would motivate providers to deliver high standards."
Children's charity Barnardos said that if society is serious about social inclusion and equality, it cannot ignore the arguments for investing in children early on in their lives.
