Seán Sherlock (Cork East, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I raise this issue along with Deputy Rabbitte on the basis that we are both concerned about it and are both members of the Joint Committee on Children and Youth Affairs. We are both conscious that this story seemed to emerge in the public domain through The Irish Timesbut, until now, this House has not had an opportunity to discuss the issue. We were conscious about giving the issue an airing. We want to move to a situation for the approximately 40,000 members of Scouting Ireland, 13,000 volunteers, 35 staff and approximately 500 troops that exist throughout the island of Ireland, both North and South, where we can clarify the funding position and collectively work on the issues of child protection. I am not aware of the content of the Ian Elliott report. I understand that Scouting Ireland brought in Ian Elliott as a person who would go through the Children First guidelines or kick the tyres on that. I understand that a barrister was subsequently appointed to go through the recommendations of that report. I am not sure if the Minister has sight of the Ian Elliott report. I do not have sight of the report but, in some respects, this is a little reminiscent of when I found myself in this House in 2007 advocating for the publication of the Cloyne report, which was the subject of Ian Elliott's reporting of issues relating to the diocese of Cloyne. I hope that we are nowhere near that kind of scenario and I suspect that we are not. I want to ensure that there is confidence in the work of Scouting Ireland. We all know there are people in our communities throughout this island who give their time voluntarily to ensure that all child protection procedures are adhered to. They do so on a voluntary basis and want to ensure the sustainability of the entity that is Scouting Ireland because it is an invaluable entity to our lives and it enhances the lives of communities throughout the island.

See this speech in context