Ciarán Cannon (Galway East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

On behalf of the Minister, Deputy Zappone, I thank the Deputies for their contributions. The Minister regrets she is not available to be here in person. I take the opportunity to respond to a number of issues that have been raised, both last week by Deputy Rabbitte and again today by her and many others.

With regard to Ian Elliott's review of historical abuse, Mr. Elliott is a very highly respected expert in the area of child protection and safeguarding and he has a reputation for rigour and plain speaking. The Minister, Deputy Zappone, will give Mr. Elliott's analysis of historical abuse in legacy scouting organisations very careful consideration when it is shared with her in February next year. It will also be shared with the joint Oireachtas committee. If the joint Oireachtas committee comes to the conclusion that Mr. Elliott's report might itself benefit from being independently reviewed, then the Minister will, of course, consider this.

Regarding the call for a statutory inquiry, the Minister, Deputy Zappone, is giving very careful thought to the suggestion of establishing a statutory inquiry to investigate historical abuse within legacy scouting organisations and the Government will make a decision on the best way to proceed as soon as possible. It will be important to ensure that any inquiry is an appropriate tool which will lead to the outcomes that are envisaged and the Minister, Deputy Zappone, is very mindful of the remarks made by Mr. Justice Charleton in the third interim report of the disclosures tribunal to the effect that a tribunal is a final resort. Justice Charleton further stated: "when a public controversy arises, the first option should be always to ask whether there are structures in place within the administration of public life which can enable facts to be found with such degree of certainty as to enable satisfaction at a reasonable level that the truth has been discovered." We must also ensure that any inquiry does not interfere with or prejudice any other ongoing processes, such as civil or criminal proceedings.

The Minister was happy to hear in a recent written progress report from Scouting Ireland that it had implemented all of Ms Jillian van Turnhout's recommendations that were laid out in her report of June 2018. The Minister was pleased to report that Ms van Turnhout has agreed to meet again with Scouting Ireland in the new year to further discuss its implementation of her recommendations. As Scouting Ireland said yesterday, it is open to scrutiny and the Minister welcomes this openness and transparency as we move to improve confidence further in the organisation's governance and safeguarding.

It is important to have access to accurate figures when it comes to the numbers of case files held, the general nature of the content of these files and the further reporting that has taken place. The Minister, Deputy Zappone, notes that Scouting Ireland agreed to provide further clarity to the joint Oireachtas committee regarding this and she understands that it wrote last week to the Chairman and committee members to this end.

With regard to disciplinary proceedings following the independent barrister's report, the Minister is aware that the disciplinary proceedings that followed Lorna Lynch's independent report have taken some time to progress. While this can be frustrating, it is important to ensure that due process is followed and all parties have access to appropriate right of reply, as per the principles of natural justice. The Minister understands that a timeframe is difficult to be certain about but, from last week's committee discussion, it looks like we might expect a conclusion to these proceedings early in the new year.

In her statement on Thursday last week, Deputy Rabbitte raised the issue of the adult volunteer who was suspended in 2018, the same person raised in the "RTÉ Investigates" programme as having had complaints made against them in the 1980s and 1990s. The Minister has sought clarity from Scouting Ireland regarding this issue. Scouting Ireland has this week reported to her officials that it cannot provide any detail on this case as it could potentially prejudice the ongoing legal process and-or the ongoing investigations being conducted by Tusla or An Garda Síochána. Scouting Ireland has confirmed, however, that all disclosures made to the child protection and safeguarding personnel in Scouting Ireland were indeed reported to State agencies, as required, and any advice or recommendations received from these agencies relating to these reported disclosures were absolutely followed. Additionally, Scouting Ireland confirmed that all reportable cases identified in the 2012 review were confirmed as reported to the appropriate authorities.

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