Milestones Missed

Milestones Missed: OCO calls on State to take urgent action to ensure all children receive universal developmental health checks  

The Ombudsman for Children’s Office (OCO) Milestone’s Missed report finds that the State has failed to ensure the effective delivery of universal public health development checks to all children under the age of six in Ireland.  Lack of complete and available data on how many children have missed their checks, and why, has made it difficult to get a complete national picture of the scale of the issue.

We believe that this has significant implications for children’s rights, particularly for those living in emergency accommodation and in the International Protection system. Our findings have been accepted by the HSE and it has committed to setting up a National Oversight Group to drive and implement the OCO’s recommendations.

• November 2026
• Type: Report