Time to toughen up legislation

With the spate of paedophile abuse cases in recent years, the need for more stringent measures to protect children should be apparent to all.

Dan Neville, the Fine Gael spokesperson on Health and Children, has highlighted the lack of vetting procedures for adults working in the community with children on a voluntary basis. The lack of such vetting procedures poses as real risk, because it affords an opening for people with paedophile tendencies to get close to children.

For too long our society virtually ignored the dangers of paedophilia.

We should learn from past mistakes, which were frequently the result of a naïve confidence in people who were in positions of trust. The violations of that trust should act as a grim warning of the dangers of complacency.

The scale of the problem is apparent from the fact that there are currently more than 800 people on the sex offenders’ register.

They are required to notify the gardaí of their presence, but it would be foolish to put much reliance on the voluntary compliance of these people.

The Government, which has already rebuffed Fine Gael proposals to tighten up the legislation in this area, should now introduce its own measures as a matter of urgency.