Scouting Ireland acknowledges its duty of care to safeguard and promote the welfare of children and is committed to ensuring our safeguarding practices reflects statutory responsibilities, Government guidance and complies with best practice and Scouting Ireland requirements.
Scouting Ireland is a voluntary, uniformed, non-formal educational movement for young people. It is independent, non-political, open to all without distinction of origin, race, creed or gender, in accordance with the purpose, principles and method conceived by the Founder, Robert Baden Powell and as stated by the World Organisation of the Scout Movement.
The statement recognises that the welfare and interests of children are paramount in all circumstances. It aims to ensure that regardless of gender, marital status, family status, sexual orientation, religion, age, disability, race and membership of the Traveller community, all children have a positive and enjoyable experience of Scouting in a safe and child centred environment and are protected from abuse whilst taking part in any Scouting activities
Our Child Safeguarding Statement has been developed in line with the requirements under the Children First Act 2015, the Children First: National Guidance, and Tusla’s Child Safeguarding: A Guide for Policy, procedure and Practice. In addition to the procedures listed in our risk assessment, the following procedures support our intention to safeguard children while they are availing of our service:
- Procedure for the management of allegations of abuse or misconduct against workers / volunteers of a child availing of our service.
- Procedure for the safe recruitment and selection of workers and volunteers to work with children.
- Procedure for provision of and access to child safeguarding training and information including the identification of the occurrence of harm.
- Procedure for the reporting of child protection or welfare concerns to Tusla.
- Procedure for maintaining a list of persons who are mandated persons.
- Procedures for the appointing of a relevant person.
All procedures are available on request.
As part of our safeguarding policy we will:
- Promote and prioritise the safety and well-being of children.
- Ensure all volunteers and staff members understand their roles and responsibilities in respect of safeguarding and are provided with appropriate education to recognise, identify and respond to sign of abuse, neglect and other safeguarding concerns relating to children.
- Ensure appropriate action is taken in the event of incidents/concerns of abuse and that support is provided to the individual/s who raise or disclose the concern
- Ensure that confidential, detailed and accurate records of all safeguarding concerns are maintained and securely stored
- Ensure robust safeguarding arrangements and procedures are in operation.
Our Code of Good Practice sets out our procedures for Safeguarding and is provided to all our Adult members, it is also available on Code-of-Good-Practice
Scouting Ireland is committed to ensuring all young people enjoy their time in Scouting in a safe and enjoyable way. The safety and well-being of our Young People is the responsibhttps://www.scouts.ie/Scouter/Management-Resources/PoliciesProcedures/All-Official-Policies/SID-39-05-Code-of-Good-Practice.pdfility of all volunteers and staff of Scouting Ireland we encourage all to play their part in ensuring that Scouting Ireland remains a safe place for all.
We in Scouting Ireland recognise that the implementation of robust Child Protection policies is an ongoing process. Scouting Ireland is committed to the implementation of this Child Safeguarding Statement and the procedures that support our intention to keep children safe from harm while taking part in Scouting. This Child Safeguarding Statement will be reviewed by the 11th of March 2020 or as soon as practicable after there has been a material change in any matter to which the statement refers.
If you have any concerns you can contact Scouting Ireland on 01 4956300 or by email at safeguarding@scouts.ie
This statement must be displayed in a prominent location in your meeting place whether you own the meeting hall or are renting the building
Child-Safeguarding-Statement-ROI Oct2021
If you need any further information please go to the following link on Scouting Ireland’s website Safe Guarding