VOLUNTARY AND sporting organisations which work with children could lose State funding if they fail to implement child protection guidelines under new laws to be introduced next year.
Under new laws, the Children First guidelines on how to deal with child-protection concerns will become mandatory for organisations and individuals who work with young people.
It will include statutory requirements to make reports, share information and co-operate with the HSE and the Garda where they are involved with a child about whom there are concerns.
Minister for Children Frances Fitzgerald said the new provisions would also oblige sporting and voluntary organisations to follow the guidelines.
However, organisations which fail to follow the guidelines face the risk of losing valuable State funding.
“These measures are about ensuring that sport organisations, youth services or schools are safe places for children,” Ms Fitzgerald added.
“It is about engendering good practice. We know what happened in the past with swimming clubs, for example. If organisations do not implement the guidelines, then there will be consequences. If they are funded by the State, for example, they would lose that funding.”
However, Ms Fitzgerald said she had been very impressed so far by the work of sporting organisations such as the GAA in implementing the Children First guidelines.
In addition, any individual who fails to pass on to the Garda a suspicion of a serious criminal offence – such as sexual abuse – against a minor or vulnerable person will face prosecution under separate legislation.
The measures, contained in the Criminal Justice Withholding Information on Crimes against Children and Vulnerable Persons Bill, are the most wide-ranging to date in the area of the reporting of allegations of abuse against children and vulnerable people.
The prospect of prosecution for failing to report suspected abuse is extended to all members of the public and not just those working with children.
These proposed measures have received a mixed response from child welfare groups and social workers.
While most groups welcome measures to strengthen child protection, many are fearful that the obligation to report abuse concerns will lead to social work teams being flooded with potential abuse cases.
In response, Ms Fitzgerald said there would be a “filtering system” to ensure that social work teams were not overwhelmed with cases. She added that it would be important to educate people and spread awareness about signs of potential abuse.
“This is about saying that child abuse is a serious issue,” the Minister said. “It is so serious that if you don’t act, there is the risk of a criminal conviction. This is not about opening the floodgates . . . it’s about changing attitudes and spreading awareness.”.
Latest official figures indicate there is a high level of inaccuracy in reporting child abuse cases.
As many as half of the 20,000 to 30,000 reports of suspected child abuse in a single year tend to be reclassified to child welfare cases, indicating that they did not require statutory intervention.
Of those remaining in the child abuse category, just over 20 per cent are ultimately confirmed as abuse.
Ms Fitzgerald said the legislation being worked on by her department was a priority and she hoped it would be published during the next Dáil term.
“This legislation will not only bring forward statutory requirements on organisations and individuals to report, but also make clear to all of civil society what to do when they have concerns about a child,” she said.
She added that talks were ongoing over a new agency which would take responsibility for child and family services away from the HSE.
The new Child and Family Support Agency will have five senior management, 17 regional directors and direct lines of accountability to an overall director. Its ring-fenced budget will be in the region of €550 million.