THE LACK of legislation governing au pairs in Ireland leaves them and their host families at risk, say au pair agencies.
Inviting a stranger into your home and entrusting your children to their care is always going to be a leap of faith. But as parents and au pairs are increasingly using the internet to find each other, they are not only bypassing agencies but also the vetting used for both sides and the backup provided if something goes wrong. It seems a short-sighted way to save a few hundred euro.
"It is amazing people will risk going through the internet. It is scary," says Caroline Joyce of the Cara International agency in Castlebar, Co Mayo, which looks for references for the host families as well as for the au pairs. "Girls are being left on the side of the road. They are very vulnerable and they are taking a huge risk," says Joyce.
She says she knows families who have been refused an au pair by her agency who then go on to the internet to find one.
The families are taking a gamble too. She thinks it will take a tragedy before people realise something has to be done about implementing safeguards.
"An accident can happen at the best of times, but at least if there are structures in place to deal with it . . . we would have a 24-hour mobile phone number available to girls and families.
"It is disgusting the way people are taking risks with their children," says Kathy O'Dwyer, owner of the long established au pair agency, Job Options, which has offices in Cork and Dublin.
"They don't want to pay fees and they don't want to be policed by us."
A member of the European Committee for Au Pair Standards, O'Dwyer is working with her counterparts abroad to implement uniform international guidelines, as well as with colleagues in Ireland to campaign for legislation.
The Irish National Au Pair Association was formed six months ago to lobby the Government to regulate the sector, as has been done in the UK, France, Germany and the Netherlands.
If an au pair visa was introduced, as in the UK and the US, the programme could be extended to non-EU countries, O'Dwyer explains.
At a time when demand for au pairs is increasing in Ireland, regulation "would help with the supply and the screening process would be better", she says.
• The International Au Pair Association has a list of member agencies throughout the world, including those in Ireland, on its website www.iapa.org