The Government will not be introducing mandatory reporting of child abuse, despite making it a commitment in the last general election campaign.
The Minister of State for Health, Ms Mary Hanafin, has confirmed that the White Paper detailing the implications of putting a legal onus on professionals to report even suspicions of abuse, will not be ready to go to Cabinet before the general election next month.
Fine Gael has criticised the Government, particularly Fianna Fáil, for failing to meet the commitment it gave in its election manifesto in 1997. Childcare agencies such as Barnardos have also expressed concern at the delay.
Barnardos has said mandatory reporting would add significantly to the capacity to protect children and make a statement that there cannot be "an acceptable level of unreported child abuse in Ireland".
Reservations have been voiced by social workers who fear that mandatory reporting could result in a rise in false claims.
Ms Hanafin said while the Government was still committed to the proposal it was putting the main emphasis and funding on the comprehensive guidelines introduced two years ago. These give guidance to schools, sports clubs and other bodies on what should be done when suspicion or evidence of abuse emerges.
She said considerable progress had been made in implementing the "Children First" guidelines introduced in 1999.
She said the State's health boards had appointed an implementation officer at local level and a training officer to provide basic and advance training on child protection to health board staff.