Resources cited in delays over child abuse recommendations

A Government-appointed body has cited resource issues for delays in implementing key Garda Inspectorate recommendations regarding the investigation of child sexual abuse.

The high-level committee also said that one of the main inspectorate recommendations (initially made in 2012) — that regional specialist centres should provide all therapeutic and investigative services to child victims of sexual abuse — could take up to five years to roll out.

The group said recommendations to prevent online child-abuse material, such as the blocking and taking down of websites, is a “complex issue” and subject to the advice of the Attorney General.

The inter-agency group rejected one of the 103 inspectorate recommendations outright — regarding calls for missing-persons officers to be appointed to local specialist units — while a further 13 either required further evaluation by the agencies or further clarification from the inspectorate.

Some 75 actions were accepted, and a further 14 were accepted with modification, with implementation ranging from short term, to medium term (June 2020), to long term (up to five years).

The inter-agency implementation group was established in February 2018, following the inspectorate’s report, ‘Responding to Child Sexual Abuse’, which was a follow-on review of an examination it conducted in 2012.

According to the group’s first progress report:

• A recommendation that the Garda Pulse system clearly identify child sexual abuse, human trafficking, female genital mutilation, forced marriage, and honour-based violence is “subject to operational feasibility” and could take up to June 2020 to happen;
• A recommendation that Protective Services Units (PSU) be in all 28 divisions by the end of 2018 was stretched to June 2020;
• Calls that the divisional PSU have responsibility for all aspects of investigating child sexual abuse was accepted but with modification “as the capacity needs of the DSPUs will need to be assessed” and that consideration would need to be given to some cases, such as those to be tried summarily in the district court, to be investigated outside of the units;
• Recommendations that gardaí, who are not in the DSPUs, receive specialist training was “not fully agreed”, as it was considered “unduly prescriptive” and was not always necessary;
• Calls for measures to prevent the spread of online child-abuse imagery, such as blocking, taking down and filtering, was a “complex issue” and subject of advice from the Attorney General;
• A recommendation to combat the live streaming of on-demand abuse imagery was agreed to in principle, but was “particularly difficult to put into effect”;
• Calls to combat child abuse material appearing on the darknet was agreed to in principle but would be resource-intensive;
• A recommendation to tackle the misuse of legitimate online platforms for child exploitation, such as child-abuse imagery and grooming, was accepted, but needed evaluation, as it was somewhat aspirational and would be resource-intensive;
• Calls for computer forensic examiners to attend abuse-imagery searches was partially agreed, but there was “a resource issue”.

The group, chaired by Caroline Biggs SC, comprises senior department officials and senior officers from the gardaí and Tusla.

The report said the calls for regional, specialist child centres to provide all the necessary investigative, medical and therapeutic services could take up to five years, but that a pilot project would start this year.

It said calls for sufficient numbers of social workers to be trained as child-specialist interviewers was accepted (with six currently being trained), but could take up to June 2020.