Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 24 October 2017
374. Deputy Joe Carey asked the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs if she is satisfied with respect to the issue of mandatory reporting in view of the fact that abuse victims may not feel able to access therapeutic services due to same; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [44971/17]
View answerThe Children First Act 2015 was signed into law on 19 November 2015, in accordance with a key commitment in the Programme for Government. Section 14 of the Act provides for mandated reporting by key professionals of child protection concerns over a certain threshold to Tusla.
I have directed that all remaining provisions of the Act will commence on 11 December 2017, including those relating to mandated reporting. The categories of mandated persons are set out in Schedule 2 of the Act and include a range of therapeutic service providers such as counsellors, psychotherapists and psychologists.
In the course of developing the Act and its passage through the legislature, consultation took place with key stakeholders including those that provide counselling/therapeutic services, and the issue of the impact of mandatory reporting on access to such services was raised.
This issue was fully considered and, on balance, the Government decided that the priority must be the protection of children against current risk of abuse.
