ISPCC urges tighter checks on those with access to children

THE Government needs to legislate for the mandatory vetting of all people with unsupervised access to children, a leading rights group said yesterday.

There were also calls for the garda vetting system to include so-called "soft information" about people suspected, but not convicted, of posing a risk to children. This could include details of charges of child abuse against a person which did not go ahead, or previous employment history raising serious concerns about a person.

It comes as the Garda Vetting Unit is to be expanded to enable it to check prospective employees for a greater range of organisations working with children.

Director of services for the Irish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (ISPCC), Grace Kelly, said: "The expansion is a wonderful start, but we need legislation to make it mandatory for organisations and employers to get a garda check on their staff."

She said there should be a penalty for employers who did not vet their staff.

"We need to make it as difficult as possible for people who have convictions against children to get through the system."

She pointed to a recent case where a sex offender was working as a bus driver for special needs children.

Michael O'Sullivan, 43, transported children to a Portlaoise school despite having a conviction for assaulting a teenage girl.

Currently only health service employees, some childcare workers and certain other employees are covered by mandatory vetting.

Ms Kelly said most organisations, such as schools, creches, youth and sporting bodies, do not have the facilities to check all staff.

Gearóid Ó Maoilmhichíl of the National Youth Council of Ireland said they had a very good system for checking staff but serious consideration should be given to compulsory vetting for those with "substantial unsupervised access" to children.

He said the current garda vetting procedure only checked for convictions.

"The new form of garda vetting will have to check the issue of soft information. This is available in Northern Ireland. That would allow prospective employers to check the background of certain people, who are found to be less than adequate in certain areas, against whom there is a major suspicion."

The Department of Justice declined to comment on whether legislation covering mandatory vetting or soft information was being considered.

A spokesman said the Garda Central Vetting Unit would be expanded from a staff of 13 to 30 in the coming weeks.

"The phased expansion of vetting of all adults working with children and vulnerable adults is on course to commence later this year," he said.