Reporting a Concern

Everyone must be alert to the possibility that children with whom they are in contact may be suffering from abuse or neglect. The Archdiocese and its Personnel have a responsibility to pass on child safeguarding concerns without delay (within the next working day) to the Civil Authorities (Tusla and An Gardaí) even in cases where Church Personnel are not directly involved.

The guiding principles in regard to the reporting of child abuse or neglect are:

• The safety of the child is paramount.
• If you have a concern about a child and are not sure what to do, contact the Diocesan Designated Liaison Person.
• The Child Protection Recording Form 15 should be completed and forwarded to the Diocesan Designated Liaison Person.
• Reports should be made without delay to the Diocesan Designated Liaison Person, Tusla and An Gardaí.
• If a child is in immediate danger contact the Gardaí directly.

Under The Protection of Persons Reporting Child Abuse Act 1998, so long as you report what you believe is true and it is done in good faith you cannot be sued.

The following summaries the procedure to be followed in the reporting of concerns in relation to child safeguarding. If a child safeguarding concern arises;

• Information relating to the concern must be passed to the Diocesan Designated Liaison Person without delay. See contact numbers below.
• If the concern is external to the Diocese, the Designated Liaison Person will pass the concern to the Civil Authorities (See Fig.1 Reporting Flow Chart).
• If the concern is internal, the Designated Liaison Person will ascertain if the grounds for concern are reasonable. (See Fig.2 Reporting Flow Chart).
• If the concern is reasonable a case file is opened by the Designated Liaison Person and the concern is passed to the Bishop and Civil Authorities without delay (next working day).
• The Designated Liaison Person will update the person raising the concern (within a reasonable timeframe) on whether the concern has been forwarded or not to the Civil Authorities.
• If the person raising the concern is unhappy with the Designated Liaison Person’s response they should be encouraged to go to the Civil Authorities directly.
• In all cases the person raising the concern should be encouraged to report their concern to the Civil Authorities.
• If you are unsure about any aspect of a safeguarding concern you are encouraged to contact the Designated Liaison Person or Director of Safeguarding directly for advice and support.

Archdiocese of Cashel and Emly

Tel: +353 504 21512
Email: [email protected]

Director of Safeguarding and Designated Liaison Person

Cleo Yates
Tel: +353 87 355 3024
Email: [email protected]

Local Tusla Duty Social Worker Contacts

Duty Social worker can be contacted 9am-5pm

• Limerick 061 483091
• Tipperary North 06746660
• Tipperary South 052 6177303

Outside of these hours in cases of emergency please contact An Garda Síochána

An Garda Síochána Freephone

An Garda Síochána launched a dedicated phone line for the reporting of child sexual abuse on the 2/3/17.

The phone line number is 1800 555 222.

This confidential Freephone line will be manned on a 24 hour basis, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. This is a Freephone number meaning that there will be no cost to callers from calling this number.

An Garda Síochána encourages victims of child sexual abuse to report any such incident at the earliest opportunity including those incidents of an historical nature.

In conjunction with the launch of the phone line, An Garda Síochána has also published a guide on the options available to people wishing to report child sexual abuse and sexual crime. This guide is available on the Garda Síochána websiteat

For further information on local Garda stations – www.garda.ie

National Office for Safeguarding Children

New House, Saint Patrick’s College, Maynooth, Co. Kildare
Tel: 01 505 3124
Fax: 01 505 3026
www.safeguarding.ie