Child Safeguarding & GARDA Vetting

As Club Children’s Officer you are required to be provided with access to the Vetting Admin section of Foireann. Your Club Registrar can assign you this access. You must use your Children’s Officer email address for this. If you have not setup your Children’s Officer email address, then your club secretary will need to request this setup by emailing info@lgfa.ie.

If your Club is a One Club Model, then each Children’s Officer can be provided with access.

Please click on hyperlink for step by step break down of how to assign vetting access to the Club Children’s Officer.

The Club Children’s Officer will now be informed as to when an applicant applies for vetting, this will be sent to you children's officer email address. Email notifications are issued from noreply@gaa.ie

The ID Validation step will now take place online. The applicant is required to upload Photo ID (passport or drivers’ licence) and a proof of their current address in the form of a Utility Bill (no more than 6 months old). The applicant must also print and sign the Gaelic Game Vetting ID Validation Form and upload this a part of their vetting application. As Children’s Officer your role is to validate that the ID and address matches the details on the applicants Gaelic Games Vetting Invitation Form, along with a signed copy of the Gaelic Games Vetting ID Validation Form. If all three are attached and correct you click validate and the application will progress to the Association. If all three are not attached and correct you click reject and the application will be returned for the applicant to completed again.

It is a requirement by the Garda National Vetting Bureau that an individual seeking vetting is validated that the individual is who they say they are. This step is mandatory and must be completed by the applicant and validated correctly by the Club Children’s Officer.

Please click on hyperlink for step by step break down of how to review a members application as Club Children’s Officer.

Please note that the Association the applicant applies to be vetted for will not have oversight of the application until the application is validated at Club level.

Once the individual is deemed suitable to work with children, the individual will receive a vetting acceptance letter. The Club Children’s Officer will also receive an email with a copy of the letter.

The requirements to work with children in the Gaelic Games Association which must be completed, prior to commencing their role(s) are vetting and child safeguarding training. If you are a coach, you must also obtain a minimum coaching qualification.

Gaelic Games Associations’ Child Safeguarding Risk Assessment 2021 and Risk Assessment Management Audit

Pallasgreen GAA, LGFA & Camogie Association

The Gaelic Games Associations operate a joint Code of Behaviour (Underage), which is enshrined in our rules and the content of which reflects how we address our Association, legal and statutory safeguarding obligations.

One specific aspect of the Code of Behaviour (Underage) is that due to the fact that they are recognised as providing a ‘relevant service for children’, our Clubs & County Boards must undertake a risk assessment that considers the potential for harm that could come to these children while they are in our care. A risk assessment is an exercise we carry out where our Clubs, County Committees, and each of our Associations at national level examine all aspects of our service from a safeguarding perspective and establish whether there are any practices or features of the service, whether they be games, training, other activities for children, or the recruitment of coaches & mentors, that have the potential to put children at risk. Experience shows that discussions on the risk of harm to children in our care inevitably leads to a greater awareness of the Child Safeguarding measures we undertake in our day-to-day work in the Gaelic Games Associations. Each unit e.g., our Clubs, must now discuss and complete this procedure at Club Executive level and must record, sign and date when this discussion took place. Carrying out a risk assessment procedure shall now be required of all units, every two years.

Within a Gaelic Games Club, i.e., where one overall Committee operates then you are only obliged to complete one risk assessment procedure and develop one Child Safeguarding Statement for that Club. Where a Club has more than one Committee, e.g., a GAA Committee, and Camogie or LGFA Committee, then each Committee (section) must complete their own risk assessment and develop a Child Safeguarding Statement. Clubs may amend the text outlined in the template or may identify additional columns for inclusion under each heading that may be relevant to the risks identified. A glossary of terms and an explanation of each heading is contained at the end of this Risk Assessment document which may assist you when completing this requirement. This document also includes a Risk Assessment Management Audit section on page 9.

Clubs should discuss the ‘Likelihood of it happening L/M/H’ column and identify if the likelihood of a risk of harm happening if your Club fails to adequately address the risks identified as High, Medium, or Low. When reviewing this document, please note that the risk assessment procedure and the subsequent Gaelic Games Child Safeguarding Statement relates to the potential risk of abuse and harm to children when participating in our games and attending our events and not general health and safety risks which shall be covered under your separate H & S policy. Information supplied on the below Risk Assessment may be subject to quality assurance follow up by the Gaelic Games Associations or statutory authorities.

After the risk assessment has been completed, organisations are required to develop, and put on prominent display (on club social media, website, clubhouse etc.), a Child Safeguarding Statement that outlines the policies and procedures which are in place to manage and minimise the risks that have been identified. You may download the Gaelic Games Child Safeguarding Template Statement at http://www.gaa.ie/the-gaa/child-welfare-and-protection/children-first. It is requested that clubs attach a copy of their updated Safeguarding Statement at the bottom of the Risk Assessment before submission. When printing, please note the Statement must be printed on A3 size paper as content will not fit on A4.

Risk Assessments & Safeguarding Statements must be uploaded using an Official Gaelic Games email address (i.e. example@gaa.ie, example@lgfa.ie, example@camogie.ie) here by 5.00pm on 31^st May 2021. Questions or clarifications not included in the FAQ document may be submitted to safeguardingriskassessment@gaa.ie.

National Child Safeguarding Committee 2021