Vol. 508 No. 3
353 Mr. Lawlor asked the Minister for Education and Science if the new National Guidelines for the Protection and Welfare of Children (Children First) will place additional responsibilities upon teachers particularly in terms of the appointment of a designated person to act with the health boards and the Garda; if the guidelines will need to be discussed with the teaching unions; and his views on the way in which to implement the new guidelines. [18615/99]
I welcome the comprehensive new national guidelines published by the Department of Health and Children. These guidelines are an important step in strengthening arrangements for the protection of children.
The national guidelines place an onus on statutory and voluntary-community organisations to draw up local guidelines to complement the national guidelines and to make them as effective and meaningful as possible. In this respect, officials within my Department have been meeting with the partners in education and representatives of the health boards over the past number of months with a view to revising the guidelines that issued to schools in 1991 and which set out the procedures to be followed in dealing with allegations or suspicions of child abuse.
