Children and Youth Affairs Committee to assess governance of Scouting Ireland

Scheduled witnesses from Scouting Ireland include

• Chief Executive John Lawlor,
• Interim Safeguarding Manager Ian Elliott and
• Interim Chairperson Aisling Kelly.

“Scouting Ireland says it has 13,500 adult volunteers overseeing activities for 40,000 youth members. It is critical that an organisation of this scale and importance in the lives of so many young people adopt state-of-the-art child protection policies as part of its governance,” said Committee Chairman Alan Farrell TD.

“The Committee will discuss the Minister’s recent decision to restore funding to Scouting Ireland,” Deputy Farrell said. “We also will discuss with Scouting Ireland its ongoing transition to a new corporate structure, adoption of a Safeguarding Action Plan, and other steps needed to ensure that children in its care as well as adult volunteers are protected from any risk of abusive treatment.”

The meeting in Committee Room 1 can be viewed live here.