Child safety ‘issue for school boards’

THE Department of Education has told the country’s primary school principals that they are charged with the implementation of child protection in their schools and not the bishops acting as patrons.

The Primary Principals Network (IPPN) has said it has “deep-rooted” concerns in relation to child protection in primary schools and that it wants the child protection guidelines put on a statutory footing.

IPPN director Sean Cottrell said the survivors of abuse and their families need the prosecution, conviction and sentencing through the courts of Church personnel who failed to handle abuse complaints properly.