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Scouting Ireland has said that it accepts and will implement the recommendations outlined by Ian Elliot in his report.
They are as follows:
one) Scouting Ireland’s governance structure should ensure that small, undemocratic cliques of members do not exert undue influence on the organization’s decision-making.
This has happened and was an accepted practice until very recently. You should continue to use experienced governance experts to advise you on how you develop your structure.
2) A robust disciplinary process should be adopted to hold volunteers accountable when their behavior is found to be unacceptable or contrary to expectations of how an adult volunteer should behave. It is important that this process be able to provide discipline quickly to avoid situations that last for months or even years.
3) Records should be created that reflect the organization’s safeguarding practice fairly and comprehensively. They must be centrally stored, regularly monitored, and capable of easy recall. The practice of maintaining electronic documentation or information outside the approved central database should end immediately.
4) The Board should be regularly updated on the general protective workload that exists, at any time, in Scouting Ireland. Directors should question this information, when presented by the safeguards manager, to ensure that appropriate responses were given to all safeguards concerns that arose.
5) A diligent attempt should be made to establish what documentation exists outside of the official records system, currently. Home visits should be made to make it as easy as possible for anyone to return documentation for filing at Larch Hill.
6) Scouting Ireland should make an institutional apology to all those who have been harmed by their contact with Scouting in previous years.
7) Effective safeguarding must be adequately resourced and prioritized in Scouting Ireland today and in the future.
Eliminating avoidable harm to youth should be the most important goal before Scouting Ireland today. There is evidence that this goal was ignored in previous years, as can be seen from any review of the documentation detailing the discussions that led to the creation of Scouting Ireland. Protecting youth from abuse was never mentioned.
8) When it has been shown that an individual, regardless of position, has put a young person at risk through his actions, or dishonored the scouting movement for his behavior, he should be expelled directly.
9) When the risk has been identified as existing, this information should be shared with all those who need to be informed.
10) Scouting Ireland should establish an independent audit process that monitors the quality of its safeguarding practice. An audit report must be submitted to the Board, detailing the findings. The regularity of the audit process should be carried out annually or no less frequently than every two years. The results of the audit should be available to all key stakeholders, as well as to the Board.
eleven) Scouting Ireland should continue to maintain and foster a close working relationship with the main legal protection agencies in both jurisdictions on the island of Ireland. This relationship should also be included in the previously recommended independent audit process.
12) Scouting Ireland should discourage the misuse of social media to distribute unsubstantiated allegations and encourage the spread of the buddy. Any breach of this must be subject to the disciplinary processes in Scouting Ireland.
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