Speech by Mr Brian Lenihan TD, Minister for Children at the opening of the "Beyond Borders - Protecting Children" Conference on Thursday 19 September 2002 in the Fairways Hotel, Dundalk, Co Louth

Introduction

I am very pleased to be here this morning together with my colleague Mr Denis Haughey MLA Junior Minister at the Office of the First Minister and the Deputy First Minister to open this conference entitled "Beyond Borders - Protecting Children". I want to first of all thank the four organisations involved, Barnardos Ireland, Barnardos Northern Ireland, ISPCC and NSPCC for inviting me to be here.

I am indeed familiar to some extent and have been learning since my appointment as Minister for Children as to the valuable work which Barnardos Ireland and the ISPCC are involved in both in the child welfare, family support and children’s rights fields.

I wish to thank them for organising this Conference together with their Northern Ireland colleagues on a topic which is of interest to many people working in the statutory and non-statutory sector. Any opportunity to inform ourselves and share our learning in relation to child protection issues must be welcomed.

As Minister for Children, I am concerned that any child would find themselves in a situation either within or outside the family where they are subject to abuse of any kind be it neglect, physical abuse, emotional abuse or sexual abuse. I know that you all share my concern.

In recent years, we as a society have become more aware of the problems of child abuse, both past and current. Child abuse is a difficult subject and it is understandable that people may sometimes be reluctant to acknowledge its existence. The tragic events in Soham in recent times have caused the issue to be highlighted and has given cause for reflection to everyone and especially to anyone caring for or working with children.

I know that one of the objectives of today´s conference is to inform participants of the current systems of child protection within both jurisdictions.

During the past decade the responsibilities of the state in Ireland in relation to child welfare and child protection have become clear. The legislation and the Guidelines which have been developed and implemented has increased the responsibility of the health boards and indeed other organisations and individuals who care for or work with children in various capacities. Those engaged in working with children undoubtedly have experienced changes in the approach to working with children and families which is having a significant impact on their role. For example, the Child Care Act, 1991 places on health boards the responsibility to provide preventative and family support services for children in need. The Act makes clear that each health board is requires to "promote the welfare of children in its area who are not receiving adequate care and protection". This includes children who are at risk of being neglected or ill-treated.

Children First

In addition Children First - National Guidelines for the Protection and Welfare of Children were published in September 1999 and represent a major development in strengthening arrangements for the protection of children. The objectives of the Guidelines are to improve the identification, reporting, assessment, treatment and management of child abuse. They also clarify the responsibilities of various professionals and individuals within organisations and provide guidance to enhance communication and co-ordination of information between disciplines and organisations. Children First are over-arching national guidelines that apply to all individuals and agencies who have contact with children.

The implementation of Children First - National Guidelines for the Protection and Welfare of Children, had been identified as a key priority in the development of our child care services. The objectives of the guidelines are:

Children First emphasise that the needs of children and families must be at the centre of child care and child protection activity and that a partnership approach must inform the delivery of services. They also highlight the importance of consistency between policies and procedures across health boards and other statutory and voluntary organisations. The Guidelines are being implemented as a priority by the health boards and additional funding is being provided to support implementation. To-date a total of €9.47m has been made available to health boards for implementation purposes and the additional funding is being used to create the infrastructure necessary to support full implementation.

Children First recognises the need to support community and voluntary groups develop best practice in their dealings with children. One of the ways this is being addressed is by the creation of the Information and Advice Officer post in the health boards. This is a pivotal post for promoting public awareness about child protection concerns and promoting good child protection practice. Voluntary and community groups will have for the first time, a named person in each board whose responsibility is to develop good working relationships and network with all groups dealing with children in their area.

In order to support this development, a new document entitled Our Duty to Care has been published. It is based on Children First and on Northern Ireland´s Our Duty To Care document, which I’m sure the delegates from Northern Ireland here today are familiar with, and is being made available to all groups. Essentially it promotes good practice and procedures for organisations dealing with children and consists of a booklet and fact-sheets covering areas such as safe recruitment practice, developing safe management practices and policies and raising awareness of child abuse among volunteers and staff. It also provides advice on how to report concerns to the health boards. This is an extremely useful tool for voluntary organisations.

In collaboration with the Northern Ireland Development Agency (NIVDA), the National Advisory Group has organised a number of national seminars directed at the Information & Advice Officers and other relevant health board staff involved with Children First. The seminars are entitled Creating Safer Environments for Children and Young People and the first of these was held in February 2001 and are being repeated as necessary. The purpose of the seminars is to explore the issue of supporting voluntary and community groups in developing good child protection practices.

As some of you in the room will be aware, I recently referred the issue of Child Protection to the National Children´s Advisory Council for consideration. I am particularly interested in how well "Children First" is operating on the ground and what the "real-life" experience of these guidelines is among statutory bodies and voluntary organisations. I want to ensure that we use all the resources and skills available to us; inside and outside Government, to put in place the necessary structures to protect our children. I know the Council will make a valuable contribution to this process.

Child Protection in Education

Child Protection - Guidelines and Procedures for Primary Schools were published in 2001. Each school was asked to designate a person as a Liaison Person under these guidelines. Training was provided to the designated persons in May/June 2002. The training of designated persons is carried out under the Primary Curriculum Support Programme in conjunction with the health boards.

Focus of today´s conference-recruitment and vetting procedures

I know that today´s conference is focusing on staff vetting issues and good employment practices so as to ensure in so far as possible that our children are protected from abuse. This topic leads me to thinking in particular of children in care or children in hospital or children who may be accessing social services to assist them at a vulnerable time in their lives. We have a number of procedures in place which address this issue and I will now briefly outline them for you.

Directions on the recruitment and selection of staff to children´s residential centres were issued by the Department of Health and Children in November 1994. Under these directions employers must obtain Garda clearance on all staff being considered for appointment to a children's residential centre. In September 1995, these directions were extended to the recruitment of staff to any area of the health services where they would have substantial access to children and vulnerable individuals. The directions also stress that it is important that employers validate information supplied by candidates and verify references pro-actively. I think that it is very important to highlight that irrespective of whatever clearance arrangements are in place, it is necessary to bear in mind that criminal record checks,while being capable in appropriate circumstannces to making a significant contribution, are not the sole answer to ensuring applicants suitability for jobs. There is a particular onus of care on employers to maintain good employment practice such as good interviewing practice and validating of references during the recruitment stage and also to ensure adequate supervision arrangements post recruitment.

Following concern on behalf of the previous Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform that a large number of organisations with responsibility for childcare, who engage staff, were not covered by Garda clearance arrangements, a comprehensive review of clearance arrangements in the child care area was undertaken.

As a result of the review by the Garda Commissioner, it was decided that a Central Vetting Unit would be set up to deal with the known demand for clearances. This unit commenced operations on 2 January 2002. The Garda Central Vetting Unit's primary role is to check prospective employees who as part of their duties will have substantial access to children or vulnerable adults.

Since the Unit commenced operating it has dealt with in the region of 40,000 Vetting and Data Protection requests. In fact, the Unit has processed, in seven months, the equivalent of the number of applications processed in one full year previously. It has also reduced the length of time taken to process vetting requests for Irish workers to within a period of three weeks.

The Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform and the Garda Síochána are now in discussions seeking ways of extending the service in the child care area to cover, for example, community workers, part-time employees etc. The Department of Health and Children have been informed of these discussions and will be kept up to date on developments. It is hoped to achieve some early progress in the matter.

I know that there is ongoing co-operation between the police forces of both jurisdictions in this area and the Garda Central Vetting Unit liaises on a daily basis with the Police Service of Northern Ireland in relation to checks on prospective employees who have been domiciled in Northern Ireland. Equally the Police Service of Northern Ireland liaises with the Garda Central Vetting Unit regarding applicants for positions in Northern Ireland who have been domiciled in this jurisdiction.

Sex Offenders Act, 2001

New legislation in relation to sex offenders was introduced by the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform in 2001.

Part 4 of the Sex Offenders Act, 2001 obliges convicted sex offenders (which includes persons convicted abroad as well as in this jurisdiction, and before as well as after the commencement of the Act), when seeking or accepting employment or a voluntary position involving unsupervised access to children, to inform their prospective employer of the fact of the conviction. Failure to do so is an offence attracting a maximum penalty, when convicted, of a fine not exceeding €12,697 and\or imprisonment for up to 5 years. This new offence, which came into operation on 27 September, 2001, along with the rest of the Act, is designed to act as a deterrent to unsuitable persons from seeking to gain access to children through the workplace, where relationships based on trust or fear can develop.

Pre-Employment Consultancy Service (NI)

I am aware that a Pre-Employment Consultancy Service is maintained in Northern Ireland by the Department of Health, Social Services and Public Safety compiled from information provided by voluntary and statutory organisations in relation workers (paid employees and volunteers) who have been dismissed, transferred to other work, or have resigned in circumstances where it is considered they posed a risk to children or adults with learning disabilities. Legislation is I understand being drafted which will put this Service on a statutory footing.

No such "lists" or registers of people deemed "unsafe" or "unsuitable" to work with children or vulnerable adults are kept in the Republic of Ireland at present. I understand that to introduce such a register would present significant legal and constitutional difficulties.

Social Services Inspectorate

Many of you will be aware that we have a Social services Inspectorate in place and that we have National Standards for Children´s Residential Centres.

Standard 2.11 of the National Standards for Children’s Residential Centres states that

All staff, relief staff, students and volunteers are appropriately vetted before taking up duties, through the taking up of past employer references, including the most recent reference and requesting criminal records checks from An Garda Siochana, or other police authorities as appropriate.

As part of the inspection process and under this standard, the Social Services Inspectorate make recommendations to health boards in relation to policies and practices on staff recruitment and staff vetting. Instances where garda clearance and validated references have not been obtained or documented in respect of employees are highlighted by the Inspectorate and recommendations made around appropriate vetting of staff prior to appointment. All SSI recommendations are followed up with health boards by the Department of Health and Children and the SSI. I know you will hear from Michele Clarke, Chief Inspector with the Social Services Inspectorate later today and I´m sure she will share her learning on this topic with you.

New issues have emerged in recent times for employers in the child care and indeed in other sectors such as clearance for staff recruited from abroad and for agency staff who are called on at short notice. Accordingly, we must build on the steps which have been taken already, improve and extend the protective measures in place. The Health Boards in conjunction with my Department and the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform keep the national Guidelines and procedures generally, under review so as to ensure that we offer the highest standards of protection to children.

I am aware that the organisations who have organised this conference have a number of recommendations for future action which focus particularly on cross border arrangements and common standards in relation to child protection and staff vetting. Some of the recommendations are far reaching and would require legislative change. Following today´s conference, I will together with my colleague the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform examine the feasibility of implementing the recommendations and agenda for future action.