The Ombudsman for Children’s Office (OCO) has reported that 1,790 complaints were made about children’s public services in Ireland last year, according to the OCO’s annual report for 2023.

OCO is a human rights institution that promotes the rights and welfare of all children and young people under 18 years of age living in Ireland. It investigates complaints about services provided to children by public organisations.

Education accounted for 40% of those complaints, most often about access to school places, bullying, school transport, the State Exams Commission as well as access to complaints procedures in schools.

23% of the complaints concerned the topic of health, notably about hospitals’ services, CAMHS, Children’s Disability Network teams and HSE funded services providing support for children. A further 23% were related to Tusla, the Child and Family Agency.

Other complaints included the topics of housing and Early Childhood Education and Care.
The OCO also received complaints from children and families living in Direct Provision as well as from people seeking passport services.

📰 Uncertain Times 📰

We received 1,790 complaints in 2023 regarding health, education, care, housing, and more.

Read about these complaints, as well as our work in education, policy and more in our 2023 Annual Report.https://t.co/d7rSDtJehJ pic.twitter.com/Fbn2qlafYN

— Ombudsman for Children (@OCO_ireland) May 21, 2024

Dr Niall Muldoon, head of the OCO, said that “children’s issues are fighting for the Government’s attention at a time when there is a housing crisis, a cost-of-living crisis, an international protection crisis, and when all our public services are under increasing pressure.”

He expressed that the issues were having “an unquantifiable impact on children” and that the State was “failing to meet its commitments and obligations to children in relation to accessing essential services.”

Speaking about the Mental Health Act, whose review is yet to be published, as well as the Parent and Student Charter and the Review of the Childcare Act, Muldoon added that “legislation impacting children has not progressed as planned.”

“Uncertainty is not good for any of us,” he concluded, “but for children it can be extremely challenging, and often damaging. [...] Let us hope that 2024 can bring an end to these Uncertain Times in the best interests of the children of Ireland.”