MINISTER FOR Children Barry Andrews says he will bring legislative proposals to Government by the end of the year to vet people who work with children for their suitability.
The Irish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (ISPCC) complained last week that the continued absence of the promised National Vetting Bureau Bill was having a hugely negative impact on organisations working with children.
“We expect to have heads of a Bill before the Government before the end of this year,” Mr Andrews said. “It’s very important that we strike the right balance between, on the one hand a huge imperative to protect children, but on the other hand you don’t want to destroy volunteerism . . . by having an over-burdensome vetting requirement or make people not inclined to get involved with sports clubs.”
Shortly after the publication in November 2009 of the Murphy report into the handling of abuse allegations in the Catholic Archdiocese of Dublin, Mr Andrews said he expected to present the heads of a Bill to Government by the end of January 2010. Explaining the delay, Mr Andrews said: “It’s much more complicated than we expected it to be . . . but I think in due course people will be satisfied that we did the right thing in this, when we’re able to publish this.”
The vetting bureau will be operated by the Garda. The legislation will also provide a statutory framework to allow bodies to share information regarding deviant sexual behaviour of individuals to the relevant authorities. It includes the exchange of so-called “soft” information, relating to authorities’ knowledge about individuals who have not been charged with or convicted of criminal offences.
In an interview with The Irish Times, Mr Andrews also said he did not believe it was appropriate for the Health Service Executive (HSE) to be funding guardians ad litem, or representatives for the interests of children in care, when they were effectively appearing on opposite sides of court cases. Ombudsman and Information Commissioner Emily O'Reilly highlighted this issue recently. Such guardians are appointed by the courts but paid by the HSE.
“It’s not really appropriate at all. . . I think that in a situation where the guardian is at odds with the HSE in a courts setting, clearly for them to be funding it is not the ideal situation, and by relocating the service somewhere else it would bring an end to that problem I think,” Mr Andrews said. He also insisted the children’s rights referendum was not being delayed by pressure to not hold three outstanding byelections in Donegal South-West, Dublin South and Waterford.He said proceeding with a referendum using the wording for an amendment to the Constitution proposed in February by the cross-party committee led by Fianna Fáil TD Mary O’Rourke, would impact on the budget. However, he added “that’s not the real issue. The real issue is some of the wording has consequences that we didn’t anticipate.”
