Abstract

Starting in the early 1990s, reports published over a quarter of a century detailed shocking levels of child abuse and child neglect in Ireland, along with failures by Church and State officials to take effective action. These revelations, supported by international research, made a compelling case for the introduction of some form of mandatory reporting. Yet until 2015, Ireland’s child protection system relied upon the discretion of those who suspected incidents of child abuse. The Children First Act 2015 introduced a new system of mandatory reporting that applies to professionals working in the health, education, childcare and law enforcement fields, a system that became active at the end of 2017. This article reviews the development of the reporting system in Ireland, and analyses the new obligations created by the 2015 Act. The article also analyses some initial figures for 2018, which show a substantial increase in the number of reports of child abuse and neglect made in that year. Additionally, the article argues for the insertion into the new system of some nuance in order that victim autonomy might be better respected.

中文翻译：

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国际背景下爱尔兰虐待和忽视儿童的报道

摘要

从1990年代初开始，四分之一世纪以来发表的报告详细描述了爱尔兰令人震惊的虐待儿童和忽视儿童的现象，以及教会和国家官员未能采取有效行动。在国际研究的支持下，这些启示为采用某种形式的强制性报告提供了令人信服的理由。然而，直到2015年，爱尔兰的儿童保护系统仍依赖那些怀疑虐待儿童事件的人的酌处权。《 2015年儿童优先法案》引入了新的强制性报告系统，该系统适用于卫生，教育，育儿和执法领域的专业人员，该系统于2017年底开始生效。本文回顾了报告系统的发展情况。爱尔兰，并分析了2015年法令规定的新义务。文章还分析了2018年的一些初始数字，这些数字表明该年报告的虐待和忽视儿童现象大量增加。此外，文章主张在新系统中插入一些细微差别，以便更好地尊重受害者的自主权。