Scouting Ireland accused of mishandling rape claim

Scouting Ireland has been criticised for its handling of a rape claim against one of its volunteers, with the chair of the Oireachtas Committee on Children and Youth Affairs saying it had questions to answer.

A confidential review had found that Scouting Ireland had failed to ascertain if a scout leader, who had allegedly been accused of rape, was fit to act as a volunteer before being reinstated.

The man had been suspended after a woman alleged in 2016 that she had been raped by him nine years earlier, when she was 18, on a camping trip.