Scouts fight to keep overnight trips in wake of call from Tusla
Agency recommends changes to protect children following allegations of sex abuse
SCOUTING Ireland is fighting to continue operating overnight trips that have been a rite of passage for generations of children after it questioned a series of recommendations made by Tusla to protect young scouts.
Tusla contacted Scouting Ireland officials in recent days telling them to reconsider organising overnight trips.
It also recommended that Scouting Ireland makes changes to how children in its care are supervised in the wake of sex abuse allegations.
However, Scouting Ireland questioned the recommendations last night and the basis of a number of allegations made by the child and family agency.
Scouting Ireland queried the need for a subcommittee to be put in place to review the child safeguarding proce- dures it has in place. Officials also said they wanted to know what evidence Tusla had to recommend reconsidering continuing with overnight camping trips.
To date, 313 alleged complaints have been made about historic abuse at Scouting Ireland. These relate to 237 people suspected of alleged abuse.
There have been 175 calls to the Scouting Ireland helpline, 49 calls to Tusla and five calls to An Garda Síochána.
Children’s Minister Katherine Zappone was made aware of Tusla’s letter to Scouting Ireland yesterday morning and said its recommendations deserved “urgent consideration”.
Tusla’s child safety and protection experts said the organisation must consider that key people responsible for safeguarding children may have been compromised by the sex allegations that had engulfed the organisation.
It said a sub-committee must be established to review safeguarding procedures and the manner in which Scouting Ireland managed current child protection concerns and disclosures from children must be reviewed.
Tusla has also asked Scouting Ireland to consider “the viability of continuing with overnight trips” and said it
should carry out an “immediate review of the supervision of children involved in scouting”.
A spokeswoman for Scouting Ireland questioned each of Tusla’s eight recommendations last night.
She said the organisation wanted to reassure parents that safeguarding children was Scouting Ireland’s priority.
“The letter received from Tusla which raises serious questions about safeguarding in Scouting Ireland is deeply concerning and we have sought an urgent meeting with the chair and CEO of Tusla to understand better their concerns to better enable us to act on them,” she said.
“To allege that ‘the actions of key personnel holding a role in safeguarding may have been compromised’ is a serious statement to make and we would like to understand why Tusla has made this statement.
“This is a most serious allegation, which we would have responded to immediately had we known or understood Tusla’s concerns.
“It has not been raised in any of our meetings with Tusla,” she added.
Ms Zappone said action must be taken to address Tusla’s concerns.
“There are serious worries about the issues raised within scouting – I am fully aware of this and as a result placed this as a top priority for me, and have been fully engaged with the issues involved,” she said.
“I have placed these recommendations in the public domain because I believe that parents have a right to know the views of those who are charged with protecting and safeguarding our children – and who work with no other agenda,” she added.
Labour TD Seán Sherlock echoed Tusla’s concerns about Scouting Ireland’s role in operating a helpline for alleged victims.
“It is very hard to have confidence if you are expected to go back to that organisation to report any allegations of abuse if you have already been traumatised by that organisation,” he said.