Patrick O'Donovan (Limerick, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

With regard to mandated persons, teachers are hugely important as a cog in the wheel. They are cheek by jowl with children on a daily basis and they have an important role to play, but they need to be supported, resourced and trained. They need to be sensitive. When the heads of the Bill were being examined, some of the contributors at the committee meeting were reluctant to suggest penalties for people who did not engage in mandatory reporting because they worried that the system would be clogged with frivolous reports. That misses the point, which is the protection of the child. If there is any doubt whether a child of five, six or seven years of age is at risk, there is a duty to report it, and mandated people working with children on a daily basis cannot brush it off. Mandated people should not make a decision on whether to report on their own. Support mechanisms need to be put in place on a localised basis. In the Bill, the Minister has set out the criteria for interdepartmental work, but it must get into the staffroom in the school. The teacher must be comfortable telling the principal or colleagues or seeking advice on how to deal with the child about which there is suspicion.

I return to the issue of neglect. For teachers, there is not much point in marking the roll book in a classroom on a daily basis if they do not feel they are being supported by the State in the imposition of the law. The interdepartmental element includes the HSE, social workers, the Department of Education and Skills and everyone working at the macro level, but at the micro level, whether in a small village, a small town or a community in an urban area, people must feel resources are available from which they can seek advice. It may not involve a report but clarification of what people can do about a particular child they have worries about when the child is acting differently on a particular day.

Positive work has been done on Garda vetting. I am involved with community groups that work with children and take children overseas. We go through hoops to be Garda vetted, and these are properly constructed and are in place for a very good reason. Many people moan about the fact that one must be vetted each time one signs up to a new organisation. I would love to see a Garda vetting passport that could be renewed every six months or two years and was a live document that could be taken from one organisation to another or to schools. Every time one joins an organisation dealing with children or vulnerable adults, one must be vetted by the Garda Síochána. A live document could be accessible by mandated people, such as a local Garda superintendent, and this would make it easier than having to go through the same rigmarole upon joining a new organisation.

The previous speaker referred to the horrific scenes in Nigeria over the past few days. The Minister for Children and Youth Affairs has a particular interest in inter-country adoption and in taking children from particularly vulnerable parts of the world and giving them opportunities in Ireland. She must be credited for this. The scenes in Nigeria are horrendous. If the House can encourage the Nigerian authorities or be of assistance to the European Union in stopping this, every effort must be made to do so through diplomatic channels, through the Minister's office, through the Tánaiste's office and through the European Council. That schools are being raided by militia in 2014, with young girls being sold into slave camps, is unbelievable, and no self-respecting democracy should be tolerant of it. The Nigerian Government requires assistance from the EU, the United States and a host of other places. Through the offices of the Minister, the Government should make these noises heard at EU and UN level so that we do whatever is necessary to put a stop to this. This piracy must be stopped.

I pay tribute to the Minister for introducing the legislation, which is timely, and I put on record my sincere thanks to the former Minister for Justice and Equality, Deputy Alan Shatter, for everything he did in the area. I welcome the provisions of the Bill.

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