James Reilly (Dublin North, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I move amendment No. 11:

In page 8, line 21, to delete “and”.

Section 10 provides that where a person proposes to operate as a provider of relevant services, as described in Schedule 1, he or she shall, within three months of the commencement of the service, carry out a risk assessment and prepare a child safeguarding statement. The person operating as a provider of relevant services immediately prior to the commencement of the Act shall carry out a risk assessment and prepare a child safeguarding statement not later than three months from the date of commencement of the Act. The section provides that a child safeguarding statement shall include a written assessment of risk, including an outline of the procedures in place to manage any risk identified and an outline of the procedures in respect of an employee who is the subject of investigation in respect of any act or omission regarding a child.

The section also provides that the child safeguarding statement shall include an outline of procedures in place for reducing any identified risk, including procedures for the recruitment of staff suitable for working with children; the provision of information, instruction and training on the identification of harm; the reporting to the Child and Family Agency by an employee or the provider in accordance with any guidelines issued by the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs under section 5; and a list of persons in the relevant services who are mandated persons. Section 10 also provides that a provider of relevant services shall make a copy of the child safeguarding statement available to members of staff and, on request, to a parent or guardian, the Child and Family Agency or members of the public. The provider is required to display the child safeguarding statement, or a review of the statement, which is required to be undertaken at least at intervals of not more than 24 months, as the case may be, in a prominent place related to the relevant service. The section also provides that the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs may make regulations in relation to child safeguarding statements.

The provisions regarding the requirement for a relevant service to prepare and publish a child safeguarding statement stem from the concern that the obligations regarding reporting a concern under the legislation fall on individuals who are mandated reporters. It was considered desirable at a policy level to also place obligations on organisations which are defined as providers of relevant services for the purposes of the legislation. This is to ensure the ethos of child protection and the provision of safe services for children is encourage at organisational level to supplement the responsibilities the legislation is placing on individuals. A number of consequential and technical amendments are being made to section 10 which have arisen from the amendments just discussed to section 7 regarding appointing a contact person for the purposes of the child safeguarding statement. This is the meat of what these amendments are about.