Denis Naughten TD has called for the inclusion of soft information as part of the Garda vetting process following revelations by a Dutch child protection agency that 20,000 men approached a computer generated 10-year-old in just a ten week period for webcam chats of a sexual nature.
“The report by Terre des Hommes found that three Irish men were among the 1,000 adults who were able to be identified by the researchers investigating online child sex abuse,” stated Denis Naughten. “Hopefully the Irish authorities will be able to deliver prosecutions against these three men but if they don’t it is imperative that these individuals are prevented from having close contact with children through work or voluntary organisations.”
The National Vetting Bureau (Children and Vulnerable Persons) Act 2012 provides for specified or “soft information” to be used in the protection of children and vulnerable adults. However this provision for the inclusion of soft information in the consideration of the Garda vetting process has not yet been commenced by the Justice Minister.
“It is important that persons identified by the Dutch investigation who pose a risk to children are not allowed to have direct unsupervised access to them,” reiterated Denis Naughten.
“Furthermore legislation I recently introduced — The Child Sex Offenders (Information and Monitoring) Bill 2012 —is aimed at providing parents and/or guardians of a child with information regarding the presence of a high-risk sex offender in their community and this could also utilise such information.
“Because so few child sex offenders have convictions it is important that relevant ‘soft information’ as defined by the National Vetting Bureau (Children and Vulnerable Persons) Act 2012 is utilised by An Garda Siochana in the vetting process and in communicating with parents, where a person poses a real and significant risk to children.”
Denis Naughten’s legislation establishes the Information on Child Sex Offenders Scheme (ICSO), allowing parents and those in authority in schools and clubs to inquire as to whether a person coming in contact with a child or vulnerable adult has been convicted of a sexual offence.
“It is behaviour such as that exposed in the Dutch study that I believe should form part of the soft information which can then be used to protect our children, regardless of whether a successful conviction is secured,” added Denis Naughten. “The priority must be to protect children and vulnerable adults.
“It is therefore vital that soft information such as this can be appropriately used by the Gardai to protect children who may come in contact with such individuals,” concluded Denis Naughten.
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