Mr. Cormac Quinlan:

I am glad to have the opportunity to talk about this issue. The main statutory provision here is the Children's First Act 2015, which came into place at the end of 2017. It introduced specific provisions for services and individual professionals. Services covered are those defined by the Act and every childcare centre in the context of the services regulated by Mr. Lee. Under the Act, providers are required to have a child safeguarding statement and it should cover all the policies and procedures that should be present in the organisation. It should include what steps the provider has taken to ensure that staff are informed of their obligations. Mandated persons as defined in Schedule 1 of the Act, such as childcare workers operating in this sector, have an individual legal mandate to report abuse when they see it.

Tusla's role is to provide supports. When the Children First Act 2015, and the associated Departmental guidance, came into force, we developed a universal free e-learning programme. It is available to everyone in the country so that they can understand their obligations in this area. We also have a whole suite of material on our website regarding guidance on reporting and various supports available to individuals. In addition, we have also worked closely with the Department in the context of the Children's First Act 2015 and there is an obligation on each sector. The Act established an interdepartmental group as the implementation group for the Act. A representative from every Department sits on that group and all sectors are required to produce cross-sectoral plans on how they support their sectors, including any funded services. Tusla supported the early years sector in providing additional training supports, including the provision of additional trainers. We also supported a "train the trainer" programme which provided tailored training to staff in the sector to enable them to understand their obligations.