Church leaders call for better vetting procedures

CATHOLIC Church leaders have called on the Government to introduce better vetting procedures for people working with children “as a matter of urgency.”

Bishop of Kilmore Dr Leo O’Reilly yesterday said a vetting and clearing system similar to the highly-praised Protection of Children and Vulnerable Adults system in use in Northern Ireland was necessary in the aftermath of the Ferns Report.

He said the limitations of the Church’s own checking procedures in the absence of a stronger State system could place children at risk.

“The absence of such a system here is a vulnerability which can be exploited by determined abusers of children in either jurisdiction,” said Dr O’Reilly.

He told the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Science: “It should be a matter of concern to all of us who are committed to the care and protection of children on the island.”

Responding to criticisms of the Church’s response to clerical sex abuse, he said a leading childcare expert had claimed the Church’s new child protection policy represented best international practice.

Dr O’Reilly said it also brought “a new level of consistency and professionalism” to the Church’s child protection procedures.

He reminded TDs and senators that the final draft of the policy had been ratified before publication of the Ferns Report.

The policy document also contains the same reporting duties on allegations of child abuse as laid out in the State’s own guidelines.

Another Church representative claimed its recommendations were “as near to mandatory reporting as you can get.”

However, Bishop O’Reilly said there was ambiguity between existing legislation on reporting allegations and the recommendations in the Ferns Report which would probably need to be resolved by further legislation.

He noted that the State had not pursued mandatory reporting due to the emergence of complex legal and policy issues.

He told the committee that the Church’s director of child protection, who will decide whether or not to refer allegations of child abuse to the civil authorities, would bring a higher level of professionalism to the management of such cases than is recommended in the State’s own guidelines.

Sr Eileen Randles of the Conference of Religious in Ireland said Church leaders had supported and promoted the Stay Safe programme within primary schools, despite opposition from some groups of parents.

She told the Committee that the Catholic Primary School Management Association would support making Stay Safe compulsory in all primary schools.

It is estimated that Stay Safe is currently only taught in 85% of schools.