‘Few cases get to court’

MARY NICHOLSON, advocacy manager with the ISPCC, said she was struck by how few crimes resulted in a court case.

“Prosecutions seem to be incredibly low,” she said, adding that the court process can be very difficult for children.

A sexual offence, forexample, could haveoccurred when the child was 14, but by the time it gets to court they are 18.

She said a lot of crimes, like child pornography, were not brought to theattention of gardaí.

“We would be aware ourselves, and through the HSE and other sources, that a lot of crimes go unreported,” she said.

Ms Nicholson said the rise in harassment and menacing phone calls would be reflected in what they see. “Through online and mobile phones, it’s easier to harass and make menacing calls.”

She expressed concern at the figures for minorassaults and said, anecdotally, a lot may be among the peer age group.

She said the majority of abandoning cases are of neglect, not physical or sexual abuse: “Looking at those figures, a lot are utterly preventable if the supports were put in.”

Ms Nicholson said the question with parents was whether the neglect is willful or due to lack of capacity. Low prosecution rates, as with incest cases, had a wider impact: “If you are trying to encourage children to prosecute parents, such a low conviction rate doesn’t help.”

She expressed concern over child pornography convictions. “There is no information on sentences. They are so low. What happens after that? The [sex offenders] register is based on a time period, not on the risk posed by the offender.”

Ms Nicholson said the figures highlighted a number of issues.

She said the Children First guidelines, drawn up 11 years ago, were still not implemented consistently across the country.

She said there wasn’t sufficient resources in child protection and not enough preventative work.

“There’s a lot of fire-fighting going on. You need to get in when cases are low risk to prevent them becoming high risk. You won’t stop all. It works financially for the state in the long term and it’s in the best interests of the child.”

She said the courts system needs to be reformed, trial delays cut and courts made as “child centred” as possible. Lastly, the said the Government needs to hold the referendum on children’s rights.

* ISPCC Childline: 1800 666 666 or text the word “talk” to 50101.