An Irish safeguarding consultant has said that it is important to make people feel comfortable with reporting any concerns about child safety.  In an Irish Times article by Vivienne Clark, former senior Garda Michael Lynch is reported as saying, “That’s a very important step in safeguarding that people feel comfortable with reporting to the organisation. And once the organisation receives a report like that, it must report those concerns to [the statutory authorities].

If someone has an interest in abusing children or wishes to abuse children I don’t know of any amount of child safeguarding training an organisation can provide that would stop them doing it. But it is possible for the people in the organisation to notice things. It’s never one hundred per cent. You can’t ever guarantee that someone isn’t going to manipulate a way of abusing a child. There’s no such thing as a no risk. You can create a low risk of abuse in your organisation. And that’s all about developing the organisation’s safeguarding culture.