Explores the value and limitations of Irish policy and legislation from a children’s rights perspective in order to assess the extent: Children’s Rights and Social Policy Assignment, UCC, Ireland

This paper explores the value and limitations of Irish policy and legislation
from a children’s rights perspective in order to assess the extent to which
Ireland has adopted a children’s rights model in both policy and practice. A
brief overview is presented on the origins and key theoretical influences on the children’s rights model before discussing the changing landscape of Irish policy and legislation over the past 25 years.

The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) is used as a benchmark to assess the value and limitations of Irish policy and legislation as it can be seen as a clear formulation of the children’s rights model in practice. Two articles, Article 3 and Article 12, have been chosen for discussion due to their clear underpinning of current rights-based policy and legislation in Ireland, namely the National Children’s Strategy (2000),

Better Outcomes, Brighter Futures (2014), the National Strategy on Children and Young People’s Participation and Decision Making (2015), and the implementation of Article 42A of the Constitution. The value and limitations of these developments are explored in order to ultimately assess the extent to which Ireland has adopted a children’s rights model in both policy and practice.