Dr. John Lawlor:

Yes, I can confirm that Scouting Ireland has a complaints policy and procedures. It has a very formal way of registering complaints and when they come in they are followed up. The general process in terms of complaint is to try to resolve them at the lowest level possible through mediation. Those processes are always enacted in cases of complaint.

Where one has the number of people involved on the scale we have in Scouting Ireland one will inevitably have cases arising. In response to a question Deputy Sherlock asked earlier, there are files. The organisation to worry about is one that says it has no files. Scouting Ireland maintains a very strong record on complaints and safeguarding which we follow up. In the case of complaints of bullying and harassment, whether it involves adult on adult, volunteer on volunteer or volunteer on staff, those matters are taken very seriously. They are logged and followed up. Where we have to engage external support we engage external support.