Children's charities today hit out at a website which lets schools offer temporary posts to substitute teachers without garda vetting.
No background checks are carried out on people registering with the online text-a-sub service set up by the Irish Primary Principals Network (IPPN) on www.educationposts.ie.
And headteachers are warned they have to look into an individual's personal history themselves.
Set up around five years ago the site currently has around 50 vacancies and over 3,000 people seeking work. In the last month alone it sent out over 11,400 email alerts and nearly 30,000 text messages.
But anyone can register before being vetted or providing evidence of qualifications, ID or certificates of education, a massive departure on rules brought in for gardai to assess new permanent teachers.
Recently qualified teachers using text-a-sub raised the alarm after being offered work without any checks being done on their background. They fear the system could be widely abused.
Fergus Finlay, Barnardos chief executive, agreed it could be better run.
"Barnardos has the highest regard for the IPPN and recognises that they do extremely good work but I'm sure that they would agree on reflection that a service of this nature should be managed much more carefully," he said.
"It's not appropriate that people should be facilitated to work with children in the classroom, which is a position of huge trust and authority, on the basis that they have supplied their name and mobile number through a website channel."
But John Curran, IPPN spokesman, insisted the website was set up purely as a point of contact and that checks should be carried out at principals' discretion.
"It is not the function of the site to provide a checking service. It is the function of the site to provide the opportunity to communicate - schools looking for teachers and teachers looking for schools," Mr Curran said.
"It is no different to the situation which existed five years ago, 10 years ago." But he added he would not support any teacher who did not carry out thorough checks on staff.
Garda vetting for new permanent teachers was introduced at the beginning of the current academic year under rules governed by the Teaching Council, but thousands of people working with children and vulnerable adults still have to be checked. Substitute teachers will not be assessed until that is complete.
Mr Finlay said it could take a decade to check the country's 55,000 teachers. "We should not leave our children's welfare and protection to chance. The lessons of the past are all too harrowing to do otherwise," he said.
Mr Finlay called for all people with access to youngsters and vulnerable adults to be vetted, including hard and soft information. And he repeated calls for more resources for the Garda Central Vetting Unit to clear the backlog.
The text-a-sub mobile alert system has been in operation for the last three years. Users can register by posting an email address on the site and a password will be sent out allowing people to log in and supply a contact mobile number.
Vacancies are sent via text in the evening and morning informing people when, where, and for how long, a teacher is needed. But anyone can access this information.
The text alert was seen as an efficient alternative to asking teachers to come to union offices in city centres where they would be notified of vacancies.
The website carries a disclaimer stating: "... the management of this website carry no responsibility for the accuracy or integrity of information forwarded by respondents to vacancies posted on this site.
"Similarly, no responsibility will be held for any actions or consequences of actions, arising from the employment of staff through this advertising medium."
Mr Curran said the online service was no different from advertising in newspapers but he accepted there was a flaw in the way substitute teachers are hired by schools.