Ombudsman for Children

Info on how the Ombudsman has now become involved and what their office has committed to do to help

In April 2024 Roisin Gallagher and Mary Connors met with the Ombudsman for Children, Dr. Niall Muldoon. Also present were the ombudsman’s Head of Investigations and head of policy. The meeting lasted for 90 minutes and was very productive. Roisin and Mary were able to get across the true realities on the ground for our children and their families. 

We received this correspondence and await further updates. We are hopeful that real action will come from this engagement.

“I am contacting you on behalf of the Ombudsman for Children following the powerful meeting we had with you last month.

It is clear that the defective block issue is having a serious impact on children, not just in Donegal, but in many counties across Ireland. We have decided to raise this with a number of Government Ministers, in particular the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth, the Minister for Education and the Minister for Health. We will be raising the issues that the defective blocks are having on children with each Minister, will ask what they are currently doing to help these children and what they plan to do moving forward. In our experience placing a focus on the children impacted by an issue, rather than focusing on the issue itself, makes it more difficult for Government Departments and Public Bodies to ignore and we hope that this will be the case here.

We will keep you updated as to when we receive responses to our correspondence to the Ministers listed above.” May 2024