Child workers - Vetting must be made mandatory

VOLUNTARY vetting of people who work with children is totally inadequate in light of the scandal surrounding a leading childcare lecturer who was forced to resign after it emerged he was convicted of attempted indecent assault on a 15-year-old girl three years ago.

Mandatory vetting is urgently needed if Ireland is to plug the glaring gaps in a system that falls far short of international benchmark standards.

The Athlone Institute of Technology has acted swiftly and decisively in the sordid affair of Dr Niall McElwee who resigned last week because of a sex offence conviction in the Netherlands.