OPINION: Sorry, children, promises from adults mean so little

THIS week, both the Taoiseach and the Minister for Finance told tens of thousands of Irish children living in low-income households that the Government will not be keeping its promise to cover the costs of their primary health care.

Other children were told that urgently needed repairs to their dilapidated, rat-infested schools will occur some day, who knows when, but certainly not next year as promised.

They didn't put it in quite those terms, but those were the messages. Despite promising over and over again for the past year that Medical Card eligibility would be extended to 200,000 low- income people, with priority to be placed on children, it's not going to happen.

We try to teach our children the importance of keeping promises. But what are they to think when they hear that the Government is breaking its promises to them? What kind of example is that to set?

And why do we act surprised when, upon reaching voting age, so many of them say that voting is a waste of time and that politicians can't be trusted?

We all know that sometimes, no matter how much we'd like to, we just can't keep our promises, usually because of factors beyond our control.

That's the excuse being given by Government - "Sure, we'd love to help, but we just don't have the money".

But does that explanation actually apply in this case and is it a valid excuse for the broken promises?

Budgets are about making choices and setting priorities. The pressures on this budget are very real, and the choices are difficult, but a casual glance at the estimates shows that it's not as if the Government has suddenly found itself without funds at its disposal.

Including the increases to be announced on Budget Day, analysts expect overall planned spending to go up by 4 per cent - 6 per cent, not the 2 per cent announced this week.

Economic growth has slowed, but we're not in a recession (although some say this budget could put us in one). But if you put A500 million into the SSIA scheme and maintain tax relief for those on high incomes and put another A1 billion into a reserve fund, you quickly find yourself hard pressed to meet other needs and commitments.

But those are choices and they reflect priorities. For example, the Government could still decide to put the needs of children ahead of the alleged need to fully fund the wildly miscalculated SSIA scheme which will cost multiples of what it would take to fund the promised Medical Card extension.

That's a decision entirely within the Government's control, but it would mean putting the needs of children first, not last, on the list of priorities.

Cancelling or putting off plans to repair dilapidated primary schools is not unavoidable. It only becomes inevitable after other decisions have been made, such as continuing to provide tax breaks to the very well-off.

Saying that the Medical Card will still be extended at some point during the life of the Government ignores the fact that the promise was to extend it now, not sometime in the next five years.

Last year, amid a storm of controversy over the one-year delay in implementing this extension, the Minister for Health said that expanded Medical Card coverage would start next year, with special targeting to address the health care needs of children.

The commitment was announced as a key feature of the Health Strategy. Failing to deliver on it makes a mockery of the strategy's first two goals, "Better Health for Everyone" and "Equal Access".

Childhoods don't last forever and deferred improvements in children's health can't be taken up later in life.

Childhoods end quickly, but what survives the passage of time is the cost to the taxpayers of paying for health problems that could have been avoided if proper medical care had been made available at an early age.

THE Children's Rights Alliance has called for the extension of the Medical Card to more children for the simple reason that it will contribute to improvements in children's health.

Too often the decision to see the doctor or to obtain prescribed treatment is made on the basis of financial considerations.

Removing the issue of affordability will allow more children to receive medical attention and treatment when they need it. That's why the Chief Medical Officer of the Department of Health and Children has stressed the critical importance of providing universal Medical Card coverage to children.

Under the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, to which Ireland has been a State Party since 1992, children have a right "to the highest attainable standard of health".

Under the rules we teach our children to live by, children have a right to expect that a promise made is a promise kept, especially when the promise is made by their Government.

Ray Dooley is the Chief Executive of the Children's Rights Alliance, a coalition of 72 non-governmental organisations concerned with the rights and needs of children in Ireland.

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