JULY 2

DISGRACED college lecturer Dr Niall McElwee is at the centre of a new Garda investigation, it emerged yesterday.

WHILE the inquiry into the circumstances surrounding the resignation of childcare expert Dr Niall McElwee at Athlone Institute of Technology is to be welcomed, the probe is too narrowly focused, prompting fears that serious questions will go unanswered.

IMAGES of abused children used as lecture material in Waterford Institute of Technology (WIT) will be investigated as part of an inquiry into the controversy surrounding the disgraced lecturer, Dr Niall McElwee.

The Health Service Executive has published the terms of its inquiry into the circumstances surrounding the resignation of childcare expert Niall McElwee from Athlone Institute of Technology.

An independent chairman has been appointed to investigate how a convicted sex offender kept his job as a childcare lecturer.

The disgraced lecturer, Dr Niall McElwee, who resigned from his post after being charged with sexual offences against three teenage girls, worked part-time in a home for abused and disadvantaged children in Galway.

The HSE has said it will conduct an investigation without delay into the extent of knowledge of allegations regarding a former department head at Athlone IT.

Fine Gael has called for an external investigation into what it is describing as the failure of the HSE to act on information about a former department head at Athlone IT.

VOLUNTARY vetting of people who work with children is totally inadequate in light of the scandal surrounding a leading childcare lecturer who was forced to resign after it emerged he was convicted of attempted indecent assault on a 15-year-old girl three years ago.

The Children's Minister has asked the HSE to investigate the case of a department head at the Athlone Institute of Technology who resigned last week.

Waterford Institute of Technology has said complaints were made about lecture material used by the man at the centre of the Athlone IT controversy while he worked there.

It has emerged that the Gardaí told the Midland Health Board about allegations of sexual assault involving a department head at Athlone Institute of Technology as far back as June 2004.

Athlone Institute of Technology has said it was not aware the Director of its Centre for Childcare had been convicted of a sex offence before last week.

The children's charity Barnardos is calling for the immediate vetting of some staff at third level institutions.

DRUGS Minister Noel Ahern caused a bit of stir when he suggested that prison authorities should provide clean needles for drug addicts in prison.