Congress Endorses Motion on Ryan Report
9 Jul 2009
Delegates to BDC 09 overwhelmingly endorsed an emergency motion on the Ryan Report on institutional abuse and heard the report findings described as "a very powerful testimony to the deliberate denial and failure" of church and state in terms of protecting children.
Moving the motion on day two of conference, Sheila Nunan of the INTO warned that a lack of adequate teacher training - as recommended by the Ryan Report - would put children in jeopardy.
"Those of us working in sectors with children want to ensure we are equipped to carry out those roles but we need regular and appropriate training. Teachers are telling us that they are fearful they will miss signs of abuse, are fearful they will make the wrong referral and their biggest fear is that if they do make a referral, nothing will be done."
She also said there was fear that the recession would push child protection further down the political agenda.
Ms Nunan said the Ryan Report had "thrown down a challenge to us in Irish society to guarantee on our watch we will learn from it and use it to benchmark the worst of our failures to protect children and drive us to seek the highest standard of childcare and protection that must be the hallmark of a civilised society."