Catholic bishops and the Conference of Religious in Ireland have called on the Government to introduce as a matter of urgency a new State vetting system for people working with children.
The bishops also said that they would support the principle of mandatory reporting of child abuse when it was protected by law and State policy.
The Bishop of Kilmore, Dr Leo O'Reilly, told the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Science yesterday that the church's policy on child protection called for the vetting of all personnel, clerical, lay, paid and voluntary.
However this was a work in progress and there were limitations to the level of checking that could be undertaken in the absence of State provision for vetting by gardaí. He called for the "introduction of a system of vetting and clearance similar to the Protection of Children and Vulnerable Adults (Pocva) system operated in Northern Ireland".
Dr O'Reilly said the absence of such a system presented a vulnerability that could be exploited by a determined abuser of children.
He said an all-island system was required. "Indeed a European-wide system would be welcome," he said. The Pocva system allows for agencies to share what was described as "soft information" - rumour or anecdotal evidence that a person could pose a danger to children.
Educationalist Sr Eileen Randles said that as far as vetting persons in schools was concerned, they had been given the impression that "soft information" would not be included in the procedures. She said school authorities here had called for vetting of all school personnel for many years. "We realise, of course that the school's responsibility for checking references and career history would not be eliminated by vetting," she said. "However, satisfactory vetting of employees and of potential employees by gardaí would be a reassurance to the school authorities."
Dr O'Reilly said the Catholic Church here was fully in favour of mandatory reporting where this was protected by law and State policy. When this was considered by the Government in 2000, it became clear that very complex legal issues were involved.
He said the Ferns report had called for legal changes to be made in relation to reporting of cases and on "executive privilege", to protect those participating in inter-agency groups with gardaí and health authorities from potential legal actions relating to suspicions, rumour, innuendo or complaints that were "demonstrably untrue".
Jack Cleary, the child protection support officer for the Association of Management of Catholic Secondary Schools, said the Catholic Church's policy document on child protection, Our Children, Our Church, was as close to mandatory reporting as could be got.The only thing missing was making the failure to report a criminal offence.
