A new organisation set up to monitor adults working with young people must be given all-Ireland powers to protect vulnerable children, victims of clerical sex abuse have demanded. The call comes after the leader of the Catholic Church in Ireland Cardinal Sean Brady revealed all members of the Diocese of Armagh would be vetted by the new Independent Safeguarding Authority (ISA).
From July, anyone working with children and vulnerable adults in Northern Ireland must register with the agency, including priests.
The ISA will be the sole authority in England, Wales and Northern Ireland responsible for making decisions about who is permitted to work with children.
In a bid to improve its child protection policy, the Cardinal said bishops in Northern Ireland would give a “commitment” to sharing information held or known about any person working in a church context, as well as all allegations of abuse, with the new Authority. It will not, however, have any power in the Republic.
This has led to abuse survivors saying the Catholic churches’ safeguarding of children in the Republic “is lacking any teeth until it is put on a statutory basis”.
And the All Ireland Primate said he would welcome “a similar system” for sharing information on a North-South basis.
He also said he would appoint a director of child safeguarding for the diocese, to handle all future child abuse allegations.
The Vetting and Barring Scheme (VBS) is being established under the Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups. The Independent Safeguarding Authority (ISA) based in England, but covering England, Wales and Northern Ireland, is central to the VBS.
The ISA will make decisions about who is included in barred lists, and will prevent the individual from obtaining work with children and vulnerable adults.
The National Office for Safeguarding Children based in Maynooth Co Kildare explained while there are “protocols” around information sharing between PSNI and An Garda Siochana, it is not underpinned by legislation.
Secretary of the Alliance Victim Support Group Tom Hayes (63) said it should be dealt with as a statutory matter in the Republic.
“If child protection is put on a statutory basis in the Republic the onus is taken away from the Church and must be dealt with through the legal process.”
SIC: BT