Advice of the Ombudsman for Children on the Heads of the Children First Bill 2012 The Criminal Justice (Withholding of information on offences against children and vulnerable persons) Bill 2012

摘要

The Minister for Children and Youth Affairs published the Heads of theudChildren First Bill on the 25th of April 2012. The stated purpose of theudproposed legislation (“the Children First Scheme”) is to place certain aspectsudof Children First: National Guidance for the Protection and Welfare ofudChildren on a statutory footing. The Minister for Justice, Equality andudDefence also published the Criminal Justice (Withholding of Information onudOffences Against Children and Vulnerable Persons) Bill 2012 on the sameudday. This legislation (“the Withholding Information Bill”) creates a criminaludoffence of withholding information in relation to serious specified offencesudcommitted against a child or vulnerable person.ud1.2. Section 7 of the Ombudsman for Children Act 2002 provides that theudOmbudsman for Children may give advice to Ministers of the Government onudany matter relating to the rights and welfare of children, including theudprobable effect of proposals for legislation. In accordance with this statutoryudfunction, the Ombudsman for Children’s Office has set out below a numberudof observations and recommendations on the proposals put forward by theudGovernment. This submission builds on previous advice provided by theudOmbudsman for Children’s Office in relation to the Scheme of theudWithholding Information Bill and the initial proposals to place aspects ofudChildren First on a statutory footing.ud1.3. These initiatives represent a significant development in the legislativeudframework governing child protection in Ireland. This Office has decided toudcomment on the Children First Scheme and the Withholding Information Billudin the same submission because of the overlap between them with respect toudthe issue of reporting abuse. It is acknowledged that the Children FirstudScheme is broader in scope and addresses other issues such as the generaludsafeguarding obligations on specified organisations, cooperation andudinformation sharing, and the framework for the implementation of ChildrenudFirst. In addition, the threshold for reporting under the WithholdingudInformation Bill differs from the Children First Scheme with respect to theudnature of the offences to be reported and the quality of the information heldudby the person on whom there is an obligation to report. The Children FirstudScheme relates primarily to reporting obligations to the HSE, whereas theud4udWithholding Information Bill is concerned with reporting to An GardaudSíochána. However, both deal with arrangements for reporting child abuseudand, together with the National Vetting Bureau Bill, form a suite of childudprotection legislation being advanced by the government at present.udMoreover, certain individuals will potentially find themselves subject toudreporting requirements under both pieces of legislation with respect to theudsame child protection concerns. As a result, it is important that they beudconsistent with one another and provide clarity in relation to when and howudmembers of the public, as well as particular organisations and professionals,udare to report child protection concerns.ud1.4. This Office previously advised that consideration be given to merging the twoudBills or that they be advanced through the Houses of the Oireachtas at theudsame time. This would assist the Oireachtas in ensuring that the two piecesudof legislation cohere fully with each other. As the Oireachtas has alreadyudbegun its consideration of the Withholding Information Bill 2012, it isudrecommended that the latter option be taken.udIt is recommended that the Withholding Information Bill 2012 and theudforthcoming Children First Bill 2012 be advanced through the Housesudof the Oireachtas at the same time in order to ensure that both piecesudof legislation cohere fully with each other.