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	Cr&egrave;ches, schools and other child-focused facilities which fail to put in place detailed anti-abuse safeguards will be &ldquo;named and shamed&rdquo; under new Government plans.</p>
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	However, despite the move, officials are already facing claims they have &ldquo;diluted&rdquo; the measures after removing the possibility of financial or legal sanctions for the bodies as originally promised.</p>
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	Details agreed by the Fine Gael-Labour coalition in recent days show that under the long-awaited Children&rsquo;s First legislation any group offering services to children must prove they have specific safety measures in place to protect young people from abuse and sub-standard care.</p>
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	The draft new law will state that cr&egrave;ches, schools, sports clubs, swimming pools and a raft of other bodies must provide proof they have taken steps to ensure child safety in a detailed document available to families.</p>
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	While this child safety statement will vary in what it contains from group to group, it will focus on matters like Garda vetting for all staff working with children, what protocols are in place to prevent the risk of abuse, physical infrastructure and other matters after a raft of recent scandals.</p>
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	If a group fails to provide the statement or falls short of reasonable safety levels, it will be &ldquo;named and shamed&rdquo; on a publicly available register of bodies where children could be at risk, run by the State&rsquo;s child and family agency Tusla.</p>
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	The draft legislation, which was a key electoral promise when the coalition came to Government but has been bogged down in delays for four years, is expected to go before the Oireachtas by late April.</p>
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	It is understood officials from the Department of Children believe the &ldquo;court of public opinion&rdquo; will be enough to force the groups named on the register to close the safety gaps.</p>
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	However, despite the view, the planned legislation is already facing a backlash, with Fianna F&aacute;il children&rsquo;s spokesman Robert Troy accusing Government of &ldquo;diluting&rdquo; the protection measures.</p>
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	He said under a draft 2012 version of the safeguards fines and potential prison sentences could have been imposed.</p>
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	He said these sanctions are no longer being considered, claiming this will severely curtail the effectiveness of the new rules.</p>
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	&ldquo;What is being proposed is an extremely watered down version of what was promised. Naming and shaming is not good enough, there needs to be consequences and sanctions because we&rsquo;re talking about preventing the abuse for vulnerable children here. There were sanctions in the original heads of bill published in 2012, but that legislation was never moved forward. If your company doesn&rsquo;t have a health and safety statement they are subject to sanctions up to and including fines and imprisonment. If it&rsquo;s good enough for health and safety. Then it should be good enough to protect vulnerable children,&rdquo; he said.</p>
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	While the Children&rsquo;s Rights Alliance stressed that after years of delays what is most important is to see any version of the legislation introduced, it and other advocacy groups are also believed to have concerns.</p>
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	<a href="http://www.irishexaminer.com/ireland/name-and-shame-risk-at-facilities-for-children-322536.html">http://www.irishexaminer.com/ireland/name-and-shame-risk-at-facilities-for-children-322536.html</a></p>
