Putting children at risk to satisfy an ideological agenda

Last week there was yet another article about the risks to very young children from being cared for by men, this time in The Irish Times. According to the report

"The case is part of an abuse scandal that has steadily widened over the past year, with 84 Parisian pre-schools, 20 primary schools, and roughly 10 daycares now under investigation over child abuse allegations according to judicial authorities.

Another trial began earlier this month behind closed doors, with three further cases due to begin this summer. Since the start of the year, 78 municipal school employees have been suspended, including 31 for suspected sexual abuse."

It follows several recently reported cases in the UK of men who have physically or sexually abused very young children, including babies, in childcare settings. In one Australian case last year it was reported that 1,200 children had to be tested for sexually transmitted infections.

The UK now has a "Do Something Big" initiative to encourage more men to work with young children and is offering £1,000 payments to new early years recruits. There’s a belief that children benefit from seeing both male and female role models with research apparently showing that “9 in 10 parents believe it’s important for children to be cared for by both men and women.” Just three per cent of the early years workforce in the UK are men.

This figure mirrors the situation here where the Department of Children, Disability and Equality says that data collected by Pobal through the Annual Early Years Sector Profile showed that 4% of the workforce was male in 2024. This figure was 3% in 2023 and 2% in 2022.

The Department is working on implementing Nurturing Skills: The Workforce Plan for Early Learning and Care and School Age Childcare, 2022-2028. Supporting recruitment, retention and diversity in the workforce is one of the main "pillars" of this plan and as part of this the Department says

"...amongst other forms of diversity, there are commitments to promote gender-balance in the workforce. This commitment is important in providing diverse role-models for children, and in ensuring strong connections between Early Learning and Care and School Age Childcare services and the families and communities that they serve."

The plan has no less than 41 references to "diversity" and only two to "safeguarding". Asked where the promotion of a gender-balance policy originates the Department says that

"Ireland’s policy on improving the gender balance of our workforce, in every sector, has been guided by EU legislation, subsequent domestic legislation reform, and is fully aligned with international human‑rights commitments such as the UN Convention on the Elimination of All forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) and the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action. Ireland remains fully committed to equality of opportunity and pay transparency for all women, and the promotion of greater gender balance across all sectors. Previous national strategies for gender equality have placed emphasis on improving the gender balance on State boards, and on the boards of companies, with great success. Under the new National Strategy for Women and Girls 2025-2030 the Government will also progress this work under a number of the objectives within the Strategy such as 'Being Me', 'Being a Leader' and 'Having a Fair Share'." 

When parents were asked about role models in the UK research were they thinking of children being cared for by parents or by paid workers in childcare?  

Most parents have a natural preference for female carers for those who are physically or mentally incapacitated, whether adults or children.  We know that those who cannot speak for themselves need us to ensure the highest possible safeguarding for them. 

Unfortunately the reality is that the vast majority of sex offenders are men and to protect babies and young children, as well as elderly women or those of any age with a physical or mental disability we need to avoid any situations which may give potential predators cover to abuse.  In 2024 the figures for England and Wales revealed that perpetrators of child sexual abuse were 91.3% male.

Last year media outlet The Conversation said that research in Australia three years ago found that men who were sexually interested in children were three times as likely to be working with children compared to other men. In addition, the McMartin Preschool study in the mid-1980s in the US found that “Although men made up only about 5% of childcare staff, they were responsible for 60% of the offences.”  The article points up a “troubling contradiction” about scrutiny of male workers in this sector.

“Despite this purported scrutiny, child sexual abuse by male staff can and does occur over extended periods without detection in childcare settings. In fact, evidence from another case suggests staff are often hesitant to raise concerns about male colleagues for fear of being perceived as discriminatory.”

Discrimination isn't necessarily a bad thing. The demand for "gender equality" can be seen too in the recent case at the Workplace Relations Commission in which a woman in her forties complained that she was held to the same standard as a man in his twenties in a fitness test for firefighters. She received compensation for both gender and age discrimination.   

It’s hardly a coincidence that along with a stated desire to see more “diversity” there is also a pressing need for more childcare workers. The Department says

"A key action under Nurturing Skills is to undertake a campaign to promote careers in ELC and SAC. The Department is working with a communications company on this campaign which give visibility to the diversity of people who work in the sector and what they do."

Parents and childcare operators need to trust their gut instinct and assert their wishes regarding where children are placed and who gets to care for them.  Even women, albeit very rarely, have been found to sexually abuse children, sometimes co-operating with a man e.g. to obtain sex abuse material.  If a child has no male role model in his or her life it’s surely better to supply this later on at school age when all intimate care is over and the child is able to speak for him or herself rather than expose a child to unnecessary risk to meet an ideological agenda.

Garda vetting is only of limited use since it can’t flag up any potential abusers.

“There also needs to be greater awareness of how these offenders infiltrate and groom institutions. In the case studies we analysed, offenders were seen as kind and competent workers,” adds The Conversation.

Child safeguarding must come first. As writer Adam James Pollock put it in February “It is regrettable to have to make such sweeping judgements — but not half as regrettable as child abuse.”