THE IRISH Government should work closely with the Northern Ireland Office to map out current differences in child protection legislation with a view to seeing where it’s feasible to harmonise policies and approaches on an all-island basis, a conference on child protection has heard.
Dr John Devaney, lecturer in social work at Queen’s University, and Colin Reid, policy and public affairs manager at NSPCC in Belfast, said that while much progress had been made, there still remained differences between child protection policies North and South which could be reduced significantly.
In a paper entitled Two Countries, One Border: The Challenges and Opportunities for Protecting Children on an All-island Basis – A Critical Turning Point, the authors argue that there is now a major opportunity for harmonisation of approaches which would improve child protection significantly.
They were greatly encouraged by a recent statement by Northern Ireland Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness that cross-Border discussions were continuing on the management of sex offenders and work was ongoing to bring legislation in both jurisdictions into line as much as possible.
While introducing similar legislation North and South would be helpful, Dr Devaney and Mr Reid suggested that what was needed more immediately was “operational guidance, clear protocols on information exchange and a common culture of co-operation”.
Speaking at a conference at University College Cork entitled Keeping Children Safe: Critical Times, Critical Issuesorganised by the HSE South, Social Work Development Unit, UCC and the Irish Association of Social Workers, they went on to argue for a more harmonised all- island approach.
According to Dr Devaney and Mr Reid, the placing of Public Protection Arrangements on a statutory footing by the Criminal Justice (NI) Order October 2008 had improved child protection by issuing statutory guidance on information sharing between named bodies and government departments.
Meanwhile, the Sexual Offender Act 2001 in the Republic includes a provision that anyone convicted outside of the jurisdiction of a sexual offence must notify An Garda Síochána of their conviction within seven days of arriving in Ireland.
They must also notify any prospective employer of the conviction if they are applying for work that consists of having unsupervised access with a child or a mentally impaired person and failing to do so could lead to a fine of more than €12,000 or five years in jail or both.
“At present, it is unknown what proportion of the individuals with a conviction for sexual offending comply with any of these requirements,” said the authors, arguing that less stringent monitoring of sex offenders in the Republic meant it could prove attractive for them.
They cited the case of George Finlay, John Murrell and Paul Hunter Redpath who had all been convicted of serious sexual offences against children in the UK and felt able to cross borders to live in the Republic in an attempt to escape the more onerous monitoring requirements in the UK.
“This places local communities and individuals in an invidious position,” said the authors, arguing that provisions regarding notification and risk assessment were systemically flawed if they did not include a North-South dimension.