Children's groups want unified front

The NSPCC and the ISPCC have demanded more cross border co-operation to ensure greater safety for children in Ireland.

A North-South conference on child protection is being told that new political arrangements on the island of Ireland are leading to loopholes.

Ian Elliot, the Northern Ireland division director of the NSPCC says the two different sets of laws operating at present need to be unified.

“Ultimately what we would like to see would be a uniform system operating for example the vetting of individuals who are proposing to work with children so that you can take account of the issues of individuals who move between the jurisdictions to avoid detection."