The information supplied by the Deputy appears to relate to how the State authorities and a school employer dealt with a child protection case in the 1990s and the lessons to be learnt re same.
At the outset, I wish to make clear that my Department has no role in assessing or investigating child protection concerns. Its role is to refer any allegations it receives to the appropriate authorities and to do so without making judgement on same.
If the Deputy, or any other person, has a child protection concern regarding a school it should be reported to the Child and Family Agency. If any allegation is referred to my Department, it will be reported to the Child and Family Agency in accordance with the requirements of Children First. At the same time, my Department makes the allegation known to the school authority concerned as employer of the subject of an allegation.
I wish to set out below the current arrangements for dealing with child protection concerns and also outline some improvements that are being made to the State's national child protection architecture.
Procedures for schools on the implementation of Children First in the school setting were updated and published in September 2011. This was done following the revisions in July 2011 to the national Children First guidelines. The forthcoming Children First legislation will put aspects of this national guidance on a statutory footing. Under the updated procedures all schools must have a child protection policy that adheres to certain key principles of best practise in child protection and welfare. The updated procedures also incorporate significant improvements to the previous school guidelines and are intended to better ensure consistent and uniform implementation of Children First across all schools. The improvements include a new template child protection policy, a requirement that all primary schools fully implement the Stay Safe programme and also put in place improved oversight arrangements at Board of Management level.
The additional oversight arrangements involve the following:
- Specific reporting requirements by the School Principal to the Board of Management.
- Standardised format for an annual review by the Board of Management of the implementation of its child protection policy.
- Standard method for schools to report annually to parents associations (or parents generally) in relation to their implementation of child protection procedures.
- Confirmation of compliance with child protection procedures to be provided, if requested, to the School Patron and/or the Department.
Where child protection concerns relate to a school employee, the procedures provide, inter alia, that:
- the employer shall maintain regular and close liaison with the HSE (now TUSLA) or An Garda Síochána and a decision on the position of the school employee shall be taken having due regard to the advice given to the employer by these authorities,
- legal advice should always be sought and,
- the Board should also be aware of and comply with employment legislation and any other relevant employee relations policies such as agreed grievance and disciplinary procedures.
In addition, any allegation of a child protection nature received by staff in my Department is dealt with in accordance with the Department's Procedures for responding to Child Protection Concerns brought to the attention of staff employed by the Department of Education and Skills. Under these procedures the Department does not make any judgment on the concerns brought to its attention and ensures that the details of the concern reported to the Department are passed on to the relevant investigatory authorities (the Child and Family Agency and/or An Garda Síochána) and the relevant school authority is notified of same.
Further improvements to the State's national child protection architecture are being put in place with the forthcoming statutory vetting arrangements. The forthcoming statutory vetting arrangements will set out the requirements for vetting of new employees and for the retrospective vetting of existing employees. The statutory vetting arrangements include a check for relevant "soft information" which is an important new aspect of the vetting arrangements. "Soft information" is referred to as "specified information" in the National Vetting Bureau Act 2012 and is information other than criminal convictions held by the Garda Síochána where such information leads to a bona fide belief that a person poses a threat to children or vulnerable persons.
The Teaching Council (Amendment) Bill 2015 will dovetail with the forthcoming statutory vetting arrangements by:
(a) Linking compliance with the statutory vetting arrangements with renewal of registration;
(b) Strengthening the Fitness to Teach provisions so as to provide an appropriate mechanism for assessing a teacher's fitness to remain on the register if a vetting disclosure received in respect of a teacher indicates any potential risk of harm to a child.
This approach is based on the fact that removal of a teacher from the Teaching Council register is the best way of achieving child protection across all schools.
It is intended that all registered teachers will be vetted under the statutory vetting arrangements as soon as possible after the legislation is commenced.
