Recommendations:The creation of a new criminal offence of recklessly endangering a child physically or sexually, or of failing to act to prevent such a risk, is one of the main recommendations in the Ferns report.
The implications of such a law for teachers and other professionals should be examined, it says.
It also suggests that the Minister for Health and Children should consider legislation allowing the High Court to bar a person from unsupervised access to children, on the application of the Health Service Executive. This would deal with a situation where an organisation proved unwilling or unable to keep away from children a likely abuser as may have have happened in some of the clerical abuse allegations.
It recommends that there be a study of the ability of the HSE to intervene in a case of abuse from outside the child's family, and that it have express statutory powers to do so.
It also recommends that the Department of Health and Children launch a nationwide publicity campaign in relation to child sexual abuse. This should include stressing that children should never regard themselves as responsible for abuse; that abuse is perpetrated by people in every walk of life; that it may cause serious psychological damage and that it is a serious criminal offence.
It noted the reluctance of victims to report abuse to statutory bodies, and recommends that this reluctance be tackled by enhancing public confidence in the reporting and investigation system.
This should include special training for the gardaí involved in such investigations.
All organisations, including the Diocese of Ferns, should prepare and publish a code of conduct outlining how priests and other employees should engage with young people.
It stresses that it is the responsibility of all organisations, including the Catholic Church, to ensure that proper systems are in place for the protection of children, and that the onus is on employers to ensure that no employee in contact with children has a propensity to abuse them.
The report points out that there is some evidence that people with a propensity to abuse children are attracted to careers that put them in contact with children, and suggests that organisations have systems in place to deal with this.
It urges "the utmost care and diligence" in the appointment of managers to primary schools, which are usually the parish priest or curate in Catholic schools.
According to the report, some priests used their positions as managers to abuse children.
The report recommends that every effort should be made to ensure that there is an open environment for the reporting of sexual abuse.
Written records of every complaint, even those which turn out to be unfounded, should be kept.
It did not examine the arguments for and against mandatory reporting of abuse, but said it favoured a continuation of the framework document already adopted by the Diocese of Ferns.
Although this allows a complainant to preserve his or her anonymity, which means a Garda investigation becomes virtually impossible, it accepts that this anonymity may help the victim disclose the abuse.
It commends an inter-agency committee set up by the Diocese of Ferns with the Health Service Executive and An Garda Síochána, and recommends that all rumours and reports of abuse should be reported to such a committee.
Noting that an accused priest should have the opportunity to establish his innocence at the earliest opportunity, and that the best forum for such an adjudication is a court of law, it recommends that both an accused priest and the complainant be granted legal aid, irrespective of their means.