Averil Power (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

As I stated in my opening contribution, it was never our intention for this to cover informal family or neighbour relationships. I thought I had made that clear.

The Minister stated that he accepts the spirit but not the wording. I indicated that I would like to get guidance from him as to how we could improve the wording. Senator Ó Clochartaigh has provided an excellent alternative which would greatly improve the wording that the Fianna Fáil group tabled. It would read better if it stated, "in their professional capacity". I would also suggest that we could delete "for any period of time", because the Minister stated that such could be an hour or a year. It would be my intention that we would not press this amendment but that we would table on Report Stage today - I hope we get to Report Stage because this is a seriously important issue - an improved wording which captures the matter.

The Minister said we should wait until we see if a weakness in the legislation becomes apparent. Personally, I am not happy to do that. I am not happy to wait until there is a situation where somebody who would have been captured by an amendment on this, somebody who has been working as a nanny somewhere where there is an identified child protection risk moves to another employer, does not get checked, the Minister at that stage accepts that there is a problem and seeks to do something about it. I am not happy to take that approach. This is an important issue.

As I stated at the outset, I fully accept that the wording is unsophisticated but is improved by making the changes suggested by Senator Ó Clochartaigh. The word "professional" is key. That makes a significant difference to the intention of the wording by stating that it is "in their professional capacity", which clearly does not include a family member, one's neighbour's teenage daughter or anybody else who is working on a casual basis. Professional is what we are talking about. We will table that amendment and take the Minister's word when he stated he agreed with the spirit of it but not the wording as currently drafted. That enhanced wording should be able to pass muster.