Anne Rabbitte (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Minister for coming in to bring clarity to a question that has been in the media for the last week with regard to the withdrawal of funding for Scouting Ireland. Scouting Ireland does excellent work around the country and this is down to the commitment, good work and will of the volunteers who keep it running. All the volunteer group's work should be properly supported and resourced by Government but, at the same time, organisations working with children and young people have a huge amount of responsibility and protecting children must be paramount to the ethos of everyday operation. Funding must be contingent on honouring this responsibility and on putting in place strong safeguards and processes to ensure that children are kept out of harm's way. I support and recognise the need to have strong child protection policies, including child protection officers and mandatory Garda vetting for all adults involved in the organisation. The Topical Issue matter was put down to understand the reason for the withdrawal of the funding and what processes are now in place to get the funding reinstated. The volunteers are reading about it in the newspapers and really want clear understanding as to why exactly it has come to this and what processes the Minister is putting in place.

Seán Sherlock (Cork East, Labour)
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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.

Katherine Zappone (Dublin South West, Independent)
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Scouting Ireland commissioned Mr. Ian Elliott to carry out a review into the organisation's handling of an allegation of a serious sexual assault on an adult volunteer by another adult volunteer. While this alleged assault took place in 2009, it was only reported within the organisation in 2016. The purpose of the review was to examine all matters surrounding the reinstatement of the individual in question, including the roles of individual senior volunteers of the organisation in the reinstatement process. I am aware that Mr. Elliott's report on this issue resulted in Scouting Ireland engaging a barrister to conduct a full investigation into this allegation, particularly with regard to the handling of the matter by certain senior volunteers. I will be provided with copies of both reports when completed and I would prefer to await the outcome of these investigations before making further comment.

As a result of media coverage of these events last week, I became aware that the alleged perpetrator of this alleged sexual assault had been reinstated without undergoing further Garda vetting which had been recommended by the gardaí. In addition, it was reported that he was subsequently promoted within the volunteer ranks. Funding provided by my Department to any youth organisation is contingent on that organisation meeting with a range of governance requirements. This includes its commitment to and compliance with its legal requirements in the area of child protection as set out in the Children First Act 2015 and the National Vetting Bureau (Children and Vulnerable Persons) Acts 2012 to 2016. All publicly funded organisations are required to meet strong governance standards. I have a duty of care regarding the public funding provided by my Department. In view of this, I decided to withhold any further drawdown of funding to Scouting Ireland until such a time as I can be satisfied that the organisation's governance standards are up to the required level. I am not satisfied. I have a responsibility to children and for the use of public moneys.

I wrote to Scouting Ireland on 13 April advising it of my intention to withhold funding from the organisation. I also requested an urgent meeting with the board of Scouting Ireland to provide it with an opportunity to clarify the issues raised in the media coverage and to provide assurances that I require with regard to the standard of governance that applies within the organisation. I will meet with Scouting Ireland this evening. That meeting will be with the chief executive officer, the current chief scout, who chairs the board, and the current treasurer. I have been informed that the chief scout will step aside from this evening pending the completion of the independent investigation and the treasurer will serve as acting chair of the board in his absence.

Scouting Ireland is part funded by my Department under the youth service grant scheme. This funding is provided to 30 national and major regional voluntary youth organisations for the support of voluntary youth work. The funding is to ensure the emergence, promotion, growth and development of youth organisations with distinctive philosophies and programmes aimed at the social education of young people. Funding is provided primarily to the head offices of these organisations and many are engaged in youth work activities on a regional or nationwide basis. In 2017, funding of €876,337 was allocated to Scouting Ireland under the youth service grant scheme. To date in 2018, the organisation has received €438,168. This means that Scouting Ireland is funded until the end of June.

I hope that it will use that time to constructively engage with my officials and to address all outstanding issues in regard to the standards of governance in the organisation.

Anne Rabbitte (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Minister for her frank answer. The clarity she has brought to the matter is much appreciated, as is her openness in telling the House about what is to happen later today. The volunteers will welcome the clarity in regard to funding continuing until June. The Minister's reply has raised many questions about timeframes which it would not be fair of me to ask at this moment. She stated that funding is in place until June but we must know the timeframe for the completion of the report. I assume that is one of the questions she will ask later today. I note that she stated the chief scout is standing aside. There are many questions for the board in regard to compliance and governance procedures. The same policies and principles should apply in that respect whether an organisation receives €1 or €100,000 in funding.

Seán Sherlock (Cork East, Labour)
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I accept the Minister's answer to the House and support her in her endeavours. Although no Member wants funding to be unnecessarily withdrawn, if there are question marks over governance standards, the taxpayer investment in the organisation should be withheld until those governance issues are dealt with. I ask the Minister to keep in mind the volunteers at a local level because they are without sin in all of this. They are going about their daily and weekly activities and are vital to our communities. I hope the Minister can engage proactively as quickly as possible to achieve a desired outcome for all interested parties such that funding can be restored. I appreciate why Scouting Ireland might say it is funded up to the end of June but it may not be that simple when day-to-day running costs are taken into account, so I ask the Minister to give us some assurance that funding can be restored.

Katherine Zappone (Dublin South West, Independent)
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I assure the Deputies that children, young people and volunteers are at the centre of my attention, which is part of the reason for this decision. I will listen to what Scouting Ireland has to say this evening and then decide on the next step with the Secretary General of my Department. It is mid-April and Scouting Ireland has funding until the end of June, which gives it two and a half months to provide me with assurances that proper governance standards and practices are in place. That is a reasonable amount of time in which to do so.

Deputies will not be surprised to hear that since the news broke I have received other confidential correspondence from individuals in Scouting Ireland about additional matters of grave and serious concern. I will raise those issues with Scouting Ireland as part of the process. To address the sentiment expressed by both Deputies, I will conclude by saying that it was with a heavy heart that I made this decision but it is something that I had to do.