Ireland has 'relatively high' acceptance of slapping children despite ban
Irish people would be more reluctant than people in some other countries to report a case of a child being slapped to the authorities.
Ireland still has a "relatively high" acceptance of corporal punishment compared to some of our European counterparts, and Irish people would be more reluctant than people in some other countries to report a case of a child being slapped to the authorities.
A research study, taking data from five European countries, including Ireland, looks at the varying degrees of acceptance of corporal punishment, against when bans on slapping children were introduced and other factors.
The research, entitled and published in the Child and Youth Services Review, involves input from Kenneth Burns of the School of Applied Social Studies at University College Cork.
The Irish data was taken from a survey of 1,000 people and also proposed a vignette whereby a school learns from the parents of a seven-year-old that a slap on the backside and on the ear are used to punish what they describe as "bad behaviour".
Asked the question ‘Is the parents’ method of punishment acceptable?', 67.5% Irish respondents said it was not — more than the 61% of respondents from Spain, but behind counterparts in Norway, Austria, and Estonia.
Similarly, to the question 'Do you believe that the school should report this matter to the child protection services?', 53.4% of Irish respondents said it should — more than for the Estonian sample, but behind those from Norway, Austria, and Spain.
Corporal punishment was fully banned in Ireland in 2015, and according to the study: "Ireland’s road to a full ban on corporal punishment has been a long one, introducing legislation to implement a full ban on corporal punishment following an adverse finding by the European Committee of Social Rights of the Council of Europe in 2015."
As for the responses to the questions, it said: "There were significant cross-country differences in the level of rejection, with Norway showing the highest level, followed by Austria, Estonia, Ireland, and Spain.
It also stated: "Our findings from both Ireland and Spain are in line with previous findings with a relatively high acceptance of CP.
"This finding correlates with the late legal bans of CP in 2007 [Spain] and 2015 [Ireland] in combination with strong family values, and these factors may explain why there is such a relatively high acceptance of CP in both these countries."
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