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.