Child protection - Our young continue to be let down

DESPITE public acknowledgment that crimes against innocent, vulnerable children rank among the most heinous of all offences, Ireland’s appalling record of ailure in the realm of child protection is underlined today in the most graphic terms by an Irish Examiner investigation.

Representing the most comprehensive illustration to date of the sheer scale of crime against children, the results show that even though an average of 3,500 crimes a year are reported to the gardaí – ranging from homicide to sex abuse, violent assault, robbery, neglect, and harassment – fewer than one out of five such incidents end up in the courts.

Given the gravity of these crimes, it is distressing to find that only one out of 10 cases result in a conviction. In other words, nine times out of 10 the perpetrators get away scot-free. What is particularly worrying about this scenario is that the extent of crime against children here is believed to be the tip of an iceberg.

In the view of Barnardos chief executive Fergus Finlay, the increase in certain offences and the gap between offences and prosecutions are alarming. A particularly worrying aspect of the CSO figures is the rise in sex crimes and child murders.

Against this stark backdrop, the Government’s much trumpeted promise of legislation on the vetting of adults for their suitability to work with children is long overdue. Understandably, this delay has given rise to serious concerns among organisations involved with children, including the Irish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children, whose concerns were voiced recently. The fear is that the time lapse will result in lasting damage to voluntary groups operating at the cliff face of working with children.

People will not forget the sudden flurry of Government activity last year when urgently needed legislation in the form of a vetting bill was promised in the wake of the Murphy report on the handling by Church authorities of sex abuse allegations in the Archdiocese of Dublin. The heads of the said bill were supposed to be on the table by January this year. We are still waiting.

Children’s Minister Barry Andrews has offered the explanation that the issue was “much more complicated” than he had anticipated and has given parents and the various organisations a fresh assurance that the bill in question will be published before the New Year. A cynical public awaits that eventuality with interest.

Failure to deliver the promised vetting bureau, to be operated by the gardaí, will have the effect of further deepening popular cynicism already fuelled by the long-fingering of the children’s rights referendum by a government anxious to avoid staging three by-elections.

Meanwhile, innocent children, some aged five orunder, continue to be the victims of hideous crimes. This shoddy government, with its abysmal record in so many aspects of life, deserves to be held to account by a jaundiced public fed up of hollow pledges.

What children need is action, not empty promises. Nothing less than sweeping legislation, involving a raft of constitutional, legal and financial reforms will afford real protection to the rights of children.

The grim prospect of yet more children becoming the unwitting victims of crime underlines the urgency of tackling this issue.