ANYONE WHO who fails to pass on to gardaí a suspicion of a serious criminal offence, including sexual crimes, against a minor or vulnerable person, will face prosecution under wide-ranging new legislation.
The measures, contained in the Criminal Justice (Withholding Information on Crimes against Children and Vulnerable Persons) Bill, are the most wide-ranging ever in the area of the reporting of allegations of abuse against children and vulnerable people.
However, child protection body the ISPCC has questioned the plans to extend the mandatory reporting measures beyond professionals and other people working with children.
Director of services Caroline O’Sullivan said that while those who worked with children would likely identify the signs that a child was being abused, members of the public with no training or experience in dealing with children might genuinely not recognise those signs.
“We don’t think it’s the right way to go,” she said.
“You are working on the assumption that everybody would know the signs.”
While welcoming the extension of mandatory reporting to include all forms of abuse and not just sexual abuse, the ISPCC was concerned that innocent members of the public may be criminalised because of their genuine lack of awareness around child protection.
A spokesman for Minister for Justice Alan Shatter confirmed to The Irish Times that the prospect of prosecution for failing to report suspected abuse extended to all members of the public and not just those working with children.
Until now the mooted legislation around mandatory reporting has sought only to include people in positions of responsibility or has only related to sexual offences.
However, Mr Shatter has said child protection legislation his officials are now preparing would criminalise any person who withheld information about any serious offence against a child or vulnerable person.
The legislation would also criminalise those who fail to pass information on any form of suspected cruelty or physical or emotional abuse.
According to Mr Shatter, the Bill will “create an offence of failing to disclose, without reasonable excuse, information to the gardaí where a serious criminal offence against a child or vulnerable person has been committed and the person knows or believes that the information . . . may be of material assistance in the arrest, prosecution or conviction of the offender”.
The legislation is expected to be published before the end of February.
The sanctions upon conviction are as yet unclear.
Current provisions on the statute books allow for the prosecution of people who withhold information from gardaí during criminal investigations.
However, the existing legislation is used to prosecute people who fail to co-operate with gardaí when questioned about a crime committed by another.
The existing laws do not criminalise people for failing to be proactive in reporting their suspicions, in the manner envisaged under the new Bill.