Varadkar backs move to halt €1m in funding to the Scouts

THE Taoiseach has said he backs the decision to withhold funding from Scouting Ireland, amid concerns at how it handled a rape allegation.

It was reported on Thursday that a review found the organisation had failed to question if a scout leader who had been accused of rape was fit to act as a volunteer before it reinstated him.

This happened despite garda advice that the male leader should be vetted. The man in question was later promoted within a few months of being reinstated last year.

Children’s Minister Katherine Zappone has now decided to withhold funding of nearly €1million a year until concerns about the organisation’s governance are resolved.

Speaking in Limerick yesterday, the Taoiseach said the decision was made while they await more details about what happened.

He said: ‘The first that the Government and Minister Zappone heard of the fact that the person against whom the allegations of sexual assault are made – we only found out in the last day or two that that person was reinstated without garda vetting and, indeed, perhaps even promoted and, of course, that causes concern.

‘Minister Zappone has taken the decision to suspend funding for Scouting Ireland until we can really get the facts, and I think that’s an appropriate decision and swift action by her,’ he added.