Last month Gript reported that the Ombudsman for Children’ Office (OCO) said it found no safeguarding issues with state funded NGO BeLongTo instructing teachers and youth workers to allow trans-identifying students to sleep among the gender they prefer on overnight stays.
The OCO said that the advice was “in line with best practice and the Department of Education’s guidelines as outlined in its ‘Being LGBT in School’ resource for post-primary schools.”
Reacting to the ombudsman’s comments, Sanda Adams of The Countess said the refusal of the OCO to investigate the matter “beggars belief”.
Speaking to Gript, Adams, who is head of the Schools and Safeguarding Team with The Countess, said “It beggars belief that the OCO fails to see the inherent dangers in allowing trans-identifying male students to sleep in girls’ dorms.”
Highlighting a report released by The Rape Crisis Network of Ireland (RCNI) In August 2021 entitled Storm and Stress: An Exploration of Sexual Harassment Amongst Adolescents, Adams said the report noted that the RCNI “asked the Department of Education to collect detailed data on sexual bullying in schools in 2013,”
“This did not happen.” she said, continuing, “The OCO asked for the same data to be collected in 2016 and again the DoES [Department of Education and Skills] did nothing.”
“In May 2021, the OCO, told a joint Oireachtas Committee that the DoES ‘’has persistently chosen not to ask about sexual bullying. In 2022, the State will have to account for itself again to the UNCRC and confirm that no progress has been made on the collation of sexual violence data in schools’.
“The OCO is well aware that sexual harassment occurs in schools,” she said adding that If he believes the declaration of a trans identity by any male removes all likelihood of sexual misconduct he is mistaken.”
“The declaration of a trans identity does not mean you literally change sex.” she continued, adding that, “While the vast majority of males do not pose a sexual threat to women, whether they identify as trans or not, most reasonable people understand that the need for female only spaces arises because we cannot tell what males pose a threat and what males do not”
“Excluding all males is a simple and effective way to keep women and girls safe. All students have a right to safety, dignity and privacy. The rights of one group must not be elevated above another”, she said.
Gript’s report revealed that the ombudsman for children had been aware of the BeLongTo materials since at least February of this year after it was brought to their attention by a member of the public.
The OCO said it considers all organisations that interact with children and whose activities include additional supervisory responsibilities “have a duty of care towards them and should have child protection and safeguarding policies and practices which are appropriate,”
However it emphasised that a child “who is transgender is not a child protection or welfare issue in of itself” and the general issue stated about the “potential or actual circumstances of trans young people participating in extra-curricular activities including overnight field trips are not safeguarding breaches and are not child protection or welfare issues,”