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Message from the Ombudsman for Children

Emily Logan Hi everyone,

My name is Emily Logan and I have the honour of being the first Ombudsman for Children in Ireland. That means that I work for all children and young people under 18 living in the Ireland and my job is to make sure that the government and other people who make decisions about young people really think about what is best for young people. I believe it’s really important that young people have a say about things that affect them, so I try to meet as many young people as I can to find out what things matter to all of you and then I let the government know this.

Before I became Ombudsman for Children, I trained as a children’s nurse in Temple Street Hospital in Dublin in 1982. Even though I knew I wanted to work with young people, this was a real eye opener for me. I met lots of children who had experienced things I had never even heard about. Some children were very sick, some had organ transplants, sadly some children I met also died, some were not looked after very well at home and some children were really poor.

I was shocked by some of the things I saw, some of these injustices made me angry and it was really during this time I realised that I had to try to make a difference. From then on I became more determined to work as hard as I could to help make children and young people’s lives better.

In the mid 1980s I went to work in London, in Guy’s and Great Ormond Street hospitals. Great Ormond Street is a hospital famous all over the world for specialist treatment for children, and many children travel from different countries for treatments. This was great experience meeting hundreds of children and young people from different countries and cultures, working day by day along side them.

When children and young people were in hospital for a long time we got to know them very well and usually someone close to them would stay with them. I learned a lot about how strong children and young people are, how they can make hard decisions even at a young age, and how families pull together in these tough situations. I also learned about many religions and cultures and met hundreds of people from different places around the world.

I came back to Ireland in 1997 and worked as Director of Nursing at Crumlin Hospital Dublin for four years. Then I worked as Director of Nursing in Tallaght hospital Dublin for two years.

In November 2003 the job for Ombudsman for Children was advertised. The thing that really struck me about the ad was that children and young people were involved in the whole thing. The advert looked different and caught my eye. At the bottom it said that children and young people would be interviewing for the job. I cut the advert out and couldn’t stop thinking about it; couldn’t stop thinking about how much I would love this job. When I was interviewed by 15 young people I wanted the job even more, I just knew it was my perfect job; it would give me the chance to make a difference and allow me to work with children and young people face to face.

As Ombudsman for Children, I am given lots of power that allows me to see if children and young people are getting a fair deal and if they are not, to ask questions to the government and people who make decisions about why. To do that I need to keep my ear to the ground and understand what’s really going on for children and young people. So I need the help of children and young people directly, this isn’t just about listening to them but about really hearing what its like from their point of view.

I am very lucky to be Ombudsman for Children. There is a huge variety in the job, so no two days are the same. I am very serious about my job. Sometimes it can be hard – many children have difficult lives and this can be very sad to see. This just makes me want to work harder to try to make sure children and young people get a fair deal. Other parts of my job aren’t hard at all - I love the fact that I meet children and young people face to face. This gives me great energy, because they are so straight, they want me to do a good job.

Emily