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	Tusla, the Child and Family Agency, had planned to extend access to a national register of children with a Child Protection Plan to GPs, hospitals and the garda&iacute; in 2014, but has confirmed to the Irish Examiner that it will be the end of 2015 before the system is provided.</p>
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	The Child Notification Protection System (CPNS) will allow doctors in emergency departments, GPs and garda&iacute; to find out if a child has been deemed to be at risk of significant harm.</p>
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	Under this system they will be able to call a dedicated out-of-hours service to access the database.</p>
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	Tusla chief executive Gordon Jeyes told an Oireachtas Joint Committee on Health and Children in July that the new register would be a major step forward.</p>
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	&ldquo;For example, we will able to say whether any given child is on the database of all children who are in the national child protection system,&rdquo; he said.</p>
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	&ldquo;While that is a small step, culturally it is very significant for us. That system will be available through Harcourt Street to all garda&iacute; and all emergency medical services.&rdquo;</p>
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	A social worker who spoke to the Irish Examiner on condition of anonymity said having a national register accessible to relevant agencies was &ldquo;extremely important from the point of view of protection of children&rdquo;.</p>
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	&ldquo;If other professionals cannot access it, because it does not exist, there is no way of knowing if a child is known to the services. Currently, if a child moves from one HSE area to another medical staff or garda&iacute; would not know they were at risk and could send them on their way, when maybe they shouldn&rsquo;t.&rdquo;</p>
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	The absence of such a system has been the subject of repeated criticism by the Health Information and Quality Authority (HIQA) in its inspections of child protection and welfare services around the country.</p>
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	In Cork North Lee, HIQA found that a hard copy of the names of children in the system was given to garda&iacute; &mdash; risking an accidental leak.</p>
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	In Co Kerry, an area manager wrote directly to garda&iacute; every time a child was placed on the CPNS, but the senior garda&iacute; who spoke to inspectors were unaware what children in their area were on it. HIQA warned that &ldquo;this could mean that key information may not be available to other professionals therefore affecting their decisions regarding risks outside of office hours and this issue is a national issue&rdquo;.</p>
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	In Dublin North City, the system was not available on a 24-hour basis. HIQA said access to a 24-hour CPNS was a national issue that has been previously raised with Tusla and that addressing the problem would require a hi-tech system.</p>
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	In its Review of Adequacy 2013, Tusla said preliminary work had been conducted to examine the IT options for hosting the new CPNS database and that a new project manager was due to be appointed in early 2014 to develop the IT component for the CPNS.</p>
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	Tusla said the establishment of the CPNS across the health boards and later the HSE &ldquo;has been uneven both in terms of a consistent approach to listing children and in the provision of access to the CPNS for relevant services and agencies&rdquo;.</p>
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	<a href="http://www.irishexaminer.com/ireland/delay-to-national-child-risk-register-350217.html">http://www.irishexaminer.com/ireland/delay-to-national-child-risk-register-350217.html</a></p>
