A MAJORITY of health board professionals believe introducing mandatory reporting of child abuse now would not be in the best interest of children, the conference was told.
Mr Donal O'Shea, chief executive of the North Eastern and North Western health boards, said the majority on the eight health boards believed the time was not right for a decision. A "range of work" needed to be done first which would include a national evaluation of existing procedures, an updating of guidelines and a clear definition of what constituted child abuse and neglect.
It was also necessary to decide whether under age teenage pregnancy and sexual activity should be regarded as child abuse. He said training would be needed for staff who have to identify these and they would need to be given legal immunity if they reported abuse.
Mr O'Shea said mandatory reporting without this ground work "would not be in the best interest of the children or lead to a more effective child protection strategy".
The health boards dealt with 6,415 child abuse cases last year, he said. Actual abuse was confirmed in 2,276 of these cases. One of the health boards suggested that organisations rather than individuals should be obliged to report suspected abuse. Health boards would report to the gardai, putting the legal onus on the organisation rather than the individual.