People who represent a risk to children will exploit the Border to their own ends, a cross-border conference on child protection heard yesterday.
Mr Owen Keenan, chief executive of Barnardos, the children's rights organisation, said such people would try to have access to children in the jurisdiction which is less rigorously controlled and, "at the moment that seems to me to be the Republic".
He was addressing Beyond Borders, Protecting Children on the Island of Ireland", organised by Barnardos, the ISPCC and NSPCC.
The Minister of State with responsibility for Children, Mr Brian Lenihan, said he would support the creation of an EU-wide register of sex offenders. However, there were complex constitutional difficulties associated with creating a cross-border one.
"A lot of progress has been made in recent years in the Republic, including the Children First guidelines and the introduction of vetting on a much more intensive basis at Garda headquarters."
He agreed the two jurisdictions "have to approximate our protection systems, otherwise there is a gap in the system and we all know how porous the Border has always been in Ireland; it is very important that we are moving towards that common goal of a uniform system of child protection."
However, he said introducing a legal obligation by employers to vet people who work with children was not necessarily the answer. "The most important thing is attitude and we all have a responsibility; we have a lot of legislation on the statute book and lot of it is not observed."
The recent murders of Jessica Chapman and Holly Wells were referred to by the Minister and by Northern Ireland junior minister Mr Denis Haughey.
Mr Haughey said there was full co-operation and a comprehensive exchange of information between the Garda and the PSNI in relation to child protection.
"We have to set ourselves a target of ensuring this island is a safe zone for children. That means making sure there is absolute harmony of provision North and South so those who would abuse children find no bolt-hole or loop-hole that they can exploit in terms of difference of provision North and South."
He said that a register of people in Northern Ireland deemed to be unsuitable to work with children would be made available to the authorities in the Republic.
The conference included workshops addressing four main issues of concern: vetting of people who work with children; management of sex offenders; child-protection systems and strategies; and child-protection issues in education.
Recommendations were drawn up, including the need for consistency in vetting used by employers. In particular, it was recommended that constitutional issues in the Republic needed to be resolved with either legislation or the introduction of systems to allow minimum standards of vetting North and South.
On sex offenders and those posing a risk to children, there were calls for protocols on the exchange of information.