This article was published in the Evening Echo on Thursday 25th June 2009.

I disagree wholeheartedly with the Government’s attitude to the economic crisis, their refusal to accept even the slightest responsibility for the crisis and their unwillingness to accept advice from anyone.

Of all the disagreements I have with the current Government and the decisions they have taken to date in response to this crisis, it is their treatment of children that disgusts me the most.

Recent Government cutbacks that have specifically targeted children and young people include:

Closure of a ward and operating theatre at Crumlin Children’s Hospital – The result of which will be children being denied urgent medical treatment.

Cancellation of Cervical Cancer Vaccine for young girls – A step that is guaranteed to result in young women in the future contracting a cancer that is avoidable.

Reduced educational supports for Special Needs Children – A short term saving that is guaranteed to cost the children, their parents and the State far more in the long term.

Increased pupil/teacher ratio in our schools – A decision that will have a negative impact upon the education of every schoolchild in the country from September.

Increased College Registration Fees – The increase from €600 to €1,500 per student will be an extra cost faced by the parents of tens of thousands of students in September.

Proposed reintroduction of third level fees – The Government’s willingness to reverse a policy that has improved college participation and their refusal to seriously reform higher education or consider the impact of fees on families already struggling financially is unbelievable.

In last April’s Budget the Government decided that children were a sector of our society that could afford the economic pain and targeted them.

The Early Childcare Supplement which was introduced in response to the increasing cost of childcare was cut. The €1,000 payment to the parents of children under the age of six was designed to offset the cost of childcare and support families. By 2008 the payment had increased to €1,100.

The October Budget reduced the age threshold from 6 to 5 and a half, the April Budget halved the payment and will abolish it from the end of this year. At a time when many families can least afford it they are losing this supplement.

In its place the Government plans to introduce a free pre-school scheme for children aged between 3 years and 3 months and 4 years and 6 months on the 1st September for the relevant year. The new scheme will apply to all children regardless of parental income.

Under the scheme, children enrolled in playschools will receive free pre-school provision of three hours per day, five days each week for 38 weeks. This equates to a weekly capitation grant to the service provider of €64.50.

Children enrolled in full or part-time childcare services will receive free pre-school provision of two hours and 15 minutes per day, five days a week for 50 weeks. This equates to a weekly capitation grant to the service provider of €48.50.

The introduction of a pre-school programme is welcome but concerns exist as to how the scheme will work, whether there will be enough places available to cater for all the children in that age group and whether private pre-schools and childcare providers will be able to provide the service for what is a lower rate than they regularly charge.

In the April Budget the Minister for Finance also indicated that from next year the Child Benefit payment will either be means tested or taxed. The impact this will have on the income of families across the country could be devastating.

The people targeted by these measures, parents of young children, tend to be the people paying the biggest mortgage repayments, suffering most from the income levy and pension levy and facing the greatest risk of losing their jobs. They tend not to have benefited from the property boom but to have been its victims and many now face negative equity. They tend not to be property developers or high level bankers.

The Government needs to re-examine its priorities. They need to focus on protecting and creating jobs, on restoring Irish competitiveness and on protecting rather than targeting the vulnerable in our society, including children, from the worst of the economic cuts.