Since
the mid-1990s, Ireland has been described in government policies as a
‘multicultural society’. This is partly in response to the significant number
of migrants who have recently come to live in a country that has traditionally
viewed itself in monocultural terms and as a country of emigration. This
representation of Ireland as a multicultural society, is evident in a wide
range government polices including child care, with specific groups often
racialised as ‘different’. For example, in the National Children’s Strategy states children from minority ethnic
communities have ‘special needs’ that should be met. However, as yet, these
‘special needs’ identified with those seen as culturally ‘different’ have
largely remained unnamed and unrecognised.
In 2008, the Irish government published three reports that reviewed Children First: National Guidelines for the
Protection and Welfare of Children. This article analyses how black and
minority ethnic groups are represented in the national guidelines and the three
review reports, and argues that the inclusion and exclusion of statements on
multiculturalism and ethnicity, re-centre the dominance of white Irishness as
the universal norm against which all child care practices are judged. The
article raises questions about the absence and presence of ‘race’ within child
protection policies in Ireland and the consequences for developing anti-racist
practices.