Volunteers and staff in youth organisations may face statutory vetting under new legislation on child protection to be introduced later this year.
The Minister of State for Education with responsibility for youth affairs, Mr Willie O'Dea, said the move, which would require all workers in the sector to receive Garda clearance and formal training, was under consideration.
In the meantime, new voluntary guidelines on child protection are to be issued to all youth organisations.
Mr O'Dea said statutory vetting was "a pretty radical step but I would like to see it myself. You don't want to discourage people from getting involved in youth service but at the same time you have to ensure there is proper protection as paedophiles do tend to gravitate towards organisations involving young people. It's all about striking the right balance."
He said statutory vetting was one of a number of new protections which could be included in the revised Youth Work Act, due to be published in May-June.
The revision was necessitated by the Government's decision to scrap regional education boards, due to be created under the Act published by the previous government.
Meanwhile, the voluntary guidelines on child protection are due to be published before the end of April. Currently being compiled by a sub-committee of the National Youth Work Advisory Committee, the guidelines will set out a standard procedure for dealing with child abuse allegations as well as giving recommendations on child development training and the screening of child workers.
The guidelines will be published as part of a national child protection and development plan for youth organisations, being drafted by the sub-committee which was established last June.
Similar protection guidelines for health boards and State agencies are currently being prepared by the Department of Health's expert group on child abuse.
Mr O'Dea said most youth organisations have already prepared, or were currently preparing, their own child protection guidelines and were training their members accordingly.
"We have a very healthy voluntary sector in this country," he said, "but parents want to be reassured that they can leave their children with youth workers. We have to do everything possible to stop abusers infiltrating youth organisations."
He added the introduction of a sex offender register, announced last month, will assist youth organisations in screening workers. The Sex Offences Bill makes it an offence for a convicted paedophile to seek or take a job with children.
The Bill follows the enactment last January of legislation which ensures people who report child abuse in good faith are immune from being sued for defamation.
