Children at risk of ‘preventable abuse’ due to Garda computer backlog

A three-year backlog in Garda forensic examinations of computers and devices used to view child sex abuse material (CSAM) risks puts children at risk of “preventable abuse”, the outgoing special rapporteur on child protection has warned.

Of almost 7,000 reports of online CSAM reported by a national hotline to gardaí in 2020, just 160 were investigated, Dr Conor O’Mahony also observed in his final annual report to Government.

Describing such inaction by gardaí on CSAM as “alarming”, he says it leaves perpetrators “at large for extended periods” even after they have come to the attention of the Garda.

[ Special rapporteur says departments were unwilling to discuss child welfare issues with him ]

His report cites a quote from a senior Facebook employee in a 2020 Hotline.ie report as saying: “My experience is that the material sent [to gardaí] is accurate. There are errors, of course, but not over 96 per cent. If we were that bad at it, we’d know about it”, and expressed concerns that the force was “not equipped to deal with the volume of CSAM that is in circulation”.

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Resources to the specialist Garda investigative units must be increased and recruitment undertaken “as a matter of the highest priority”. It is both a “moral imperative to prevent abuse” and a “legal imperative”, says Dr O’Mahony. If a child was abused by a perpetrator at large because of a delay in examining a device, he warns, they would “almost certainly succeed” in a case against the State under Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR).

“The spiralling rate at which the internet is being used to facilitate child sexual abuse means that doing nothing is not an option. A failure to act would be a violation of the human rights of the children affected.”

In his wide-ranging report, published by the Department of Children six months after it was submitted by Dr O’Mahony, he is highly critical of several Government departments.

The redress scheme for survivors of mother and baby homes, county homes and foster homes, published in November 2021, “creates an obvious discrimination between women and children who experienced similar harms”, he says.

It “makes no provision whatsoever for redress for serious ill-treatment and forced labour experienced by children in foster homes”. Failure by the State to “address this omission” would violate its ECHR obligations to survivors.

The revised ex gratia scheme for survivors of sex abuse in schools introduced after the Louise O’Keeffe case, he continues, has “significant flaws”, including that applicants must have initiated legal proceedings against the State before July 1st, 2021.

“It is an entirely arbitrary date, with no basis in either the O’Keeffe judgment or the statute of limitations, and seems designed only to exclude deserving applicants from the scheme,” he says.

Child homelessness continues to worsen. “If the current rate of increase continues, the historic high of over 3,800 children accessing emergency accommodation in 2019 will be exceeded in early 2023. The Government has failed for too long to come to grips with Ireland’s housing crisis.”

The risk of child trafficking into Ireland “has been significantly increased by the influx of refugees from Ukraine”, as have pressures on housing, and on child and adolescent mental health services (Camhs). “The response to Ukrainian refugees also sheds light on inadequacies in provision made for refugees from other locations, and highlights the need for a non-discriminatory approach,” he says.

On child and adolescent mental health services, Dr O’Mahony says: “There are multiple indications of under-resourcing and staff shortages, leading to a lack of capacity in the system, and the situation appears to be getting worse rather than better.”

He flags concerns about increased privatisation of residential care and increasing use of the concept of parental alienation in custody disputes where mothers raise concerns about domestic and sexual abuse.

The report quotes 2021 UK research by Women’s Aid Federation England and Queen Mary University of London which finds “children’s voices can be silenced in these cases as it is assumed that the ‘alienating’ parent has prevented the child from telling the truth”.