Welcome for report identifying failings in sex abuse cases

A GARDA inspectorate report identifying shortcomings in the force’s handling of child sexual abuse cases has been welcome by Rape Crisis Network Ireland.

Director of the network Fiona Neary said the organisation recognised that the Garda had been improving its child protection practices, and that past failings of the State were being learned from.

She particularly welcomed the inspectorate’s strongly expressed view that those making allegations should always be believed and only a tiny percentage were ever found to be untruthful.

“If we do not listen to victims we fail to gather best evidence. For the victim, not being believed can be devastating and silencing.”

The report by the inspectorate into how the Garda handled child sex abuse cases concluded the level of co-operation between the Garda and HSE was so poor it exposed children to further risk.

The report also noted that basic procedures around the Garda’s recording of offences on its Pulse computer database were being deviated from to such an extent that up to 65 per cent of offences against children had not been captured in crime statistics of recent years. It also called for an end to the practice whereby frontline uniformed gardaí investigated cases of abuse against children, saying the Garda needed a much more specialised approach.

Garda Commissioner Martin Callinan has moved to assure the public the issues highlighted in the report have been addressed since it was completed over a year ago. He said the Garda had issued to its members a “very comprehensive” policy document around investigating child sex abuse cases since the Garda inspectorate studied the force’s practices in early 2010.

The inspectorate’s report was published by Minister for Justice Alan Shatter on Wednesday.

Mr Callinan said every member of the Garda now had clear guidelines on the investigation of sexual offences generally, and specifically regarding crimes against children, where a child-centred approach was needed.

When the Garda discussed with the inspectorate the methods of recording sex crimes, there were different interpretations as to how this should be done, and this had led to “robust discussions”.

“We have moved way beyond that now and put in place an IT facility where all incidents of that nature coming to our attention are recorded immediately,” he said.

The inspectorate report noted gardaí were waiting too long to record crimes and this was leading to intelligence gaps that compromised child safety. It was also critical of the practice of gardaí waiting until an allegation was supported by proof before recording it as an offence.

Mr Callinan said the Garda now had a network of incident suites where child victims, and indeed others who were sexually attacked, were interviewed in a confidential and sensitive manner.

The force now had 80 members trained to carry out these interviews and a further 20 HSE staff had also been trained in “specialist child investigations”.

“All of the areas identified in the report have received huge attention since.”

The majority of recommendations in the Garda inspectorate’s seven reports on policing in recent years had been acted on and the latest report was no different. “The chief inspector Kathleen O’Toole has acknowledged in her report that that is so.”