The Garda vetting of an extended range of people working with children will be announced by the Minister of State for Children, Mr Brian Lenihan, this morning. Kitty Holland reports.
Mr Lenihan told The Irish Times yesterday an increase in staffing at the Garda Vetting Unit had been agreed and details of its enhanced role would be revealed today. "It will mean anyone wanting to work in organisations, such as those in the voluntary and charitable sector, will now have to be vetted before they can take up a post.
"There will be a small, focused implementation group to oversee the expansion," he said. Until today only the potential employees of health boards had to be vetted by the Garda before taking up positions which involved working directly with children.
The announcement should be widely welcomed by groups, such as the Irish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (ISPCC), who have long campaigned for expanded vetting procedures.
In the wake of the deaths of British schoolgirls Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman last year, at the hands of their school care-taker, Ian Huntley, the chief executive of the ISPCC, Mr Paul Gilligan, warned a similar tragedy could happen here. He said it was vital that Garda vetting be introduced for all those potentially working with children. People who wished to hurt and abuse children would "exploit any loophole in child protection systems in their efforts to access children".
Mr Lenihan said yesterday this loophole would now be closed.
He was speaking at the publication of two reports by the National Youth Federation. Introducing the reports, chief executive of the federation, Mr Diarmuid Kearney, said the voluntary groups working with young people were "getting tired of waiting for adequate investment from some quarters".
He said the first report - a composite report on the work of three federation "Pathways" projects, which work with early school leavers - demonstrated the tangible difference community-based organisations made.
"But this is the longest running pilot project in existence. We're getting a bit tired of waiting for mainstream funding."
The Pathways projects were established in 1996 under the EU Youthstart suite of pilot projects. The project aims to encourage young people for whom formal schooling does not suit, back into education.