The Tanaiste, Ms Harney, disagreed with one of the Government's junior ministers, Mr Frank Fahey, last night when she strongly advocated the introduction of mandatory reporting of child sex abuse.The Minister of State for Health, Mr Fahey, has said that he is convinced that mandatory reporting "is not the best thing to do at the present time." Ms Harney told RTE's Questions and Answers programme that she was concerned about the recent number of cases that had come to light. She believed that mandatory reporting should be introduced and that immunity from legal charges should also be put in place.Ms Harney said some people who had attempted to report abuse had been threatened with libel. She did not think society had yet come to terms with how widespread this problem was.The chairman, Mr John Bowman, said the Tanaiste's colleague in Government, Mr Frank Fahey, who had responsibility for health and child care, seemed to be hesitating on the introduction of mandatory reporting when he spoke on the matter recently. He wondered if Ms Harney was disagreeing with him.The Tanaiste said this was in the Programme for Government. She agreed with that and felt it should be introduced.They had to give support to the professional people who were working with children. These people in authority should be able to report to the health boards and the gardai and receive immunity from prosecution.Last month, Mr Fahey told The Irish Times "what I am proposing does not preclude the introduction of mandatory reporting at some stage in the future, but I am convinced that it is not the best thing to do at the present time."There are genuine fears that mandatory reporting could lead to fewer cases of child abuse being reported; it could actually be counter productive.I should point out that mandatory reporting was considered and rejected some 10 years ago in the UK and it is not an issue at all in Northern Ireland. My concern is the best interest of the child."A Government spokesman has said that while Mr Fahey had formed the view that the introduction of mandatory reporting was unlikely "it hasn't been excised from the Programme for Government."Ms Harney is the second member of the Progressive Democrats Party to come into conflict with Mr Fahey's views. Last month, Minister of State, Ms Liz O'Donnell, made a commitment about mandatory reporting to the UN committee on the rights of the child in Geneva.