Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy for raising this important matter. Reports of historical sexual abuse in St. John Ambulance in the 1990s have been highlighted over recent years. Initially the case concerned three men who made allegations against one named adult. Two of these individuals were under 18 at the time of the abuse.

All three people and the accused were volunteers with St. John Ambulance. A fourth man came forward in November 2020 and a fifth in recent months. It is my understanding that a Garda investigation is under way into all these allegations and also that a number of civil cases are in train. As I am sure the Deputy is aware, the Charities Regulatory Authority, under the aegis of the Department of Rural and Community Development, is Ireland's statutory regulator for charitable organisations, including St. John Ambulance. Neither my Department nor I has any role in the governance of St. John Ambulance.

Nevertheless, my role and that of the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth in collaboration with Tusla, the Child and Family Agency, is to protect children now. I met the board of St. John Ambulance in late 2020, and I am satisfied that the organisation in its current form is now taking the matter of child protection seriously. The organisation has worked with Tusla to ensure compliance with its obligations under Children First and has accepted the recommendations of Tusla to arrange an independent review of the issues raised.

Dr. Geoffrey Shannon, an internationally recognised expert in child protection, was subsequently commissioned by the board of St. John Ambulance in March 2021 to conduct an independent review into the handling of historical child sexual abuse within St. John Ambulance. Dr. Shannon is a leading authority on child protection and child and family law. During three successive terms as special rapporteur for child protection, he produced 12 annual reports as well as a range of reports on matters relating to child protection.

The terms of reference of the review, as fully agreed by Dr. Shannon, set out that he will examine how St. John Ambulance handled past allegations of child sexual abuse relating to the individual in question and any other allegations made. The review is also tasked with examining the current standard of child safeguarding at the organisation.

I understand that given the sensitive nature of this review, Dr. Shannon believes in-person interviews are the best way to proceed. Covid restrictions have led to some initial delays in those interviews taking place, but it is the preferred method. Nevertheless, if in-person interviews cannot be facilitated, arrangements will be made for secure remote meetings between survivors and him. I also understand significant progress has been made in commencing these interviews.

I have personally met one of the individuals who has come forward on a number of occasions. I commend them and all others who, sometimes at real personal cost to themselves, have had the courage to share the horrific experiences that occurred to them in their youth. I encourage them and anyone with any knowledge of issues within St. John Ambulance to come forward and speak to Dr. Shannon. He has provided a dedicated website for people to get in touch and it can be accessed at stjohnambulancereview.ie.

While the findings will initially be presented to the board of St. John Ambulance, it is my expectation that St. John Ambulance will ensure publication of the review report and I will be looking for this to happen.

It is important to give Dr. Shannon the opportunity to undertake this review and go through the various steps. He is a person of the highest credibility nationally and internationally and it is important to give him the opportunity to do this work.

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