News from Ireland
Posted by News Editor
Tuesday, November 08, 2005

 According to L.O.V.E (Let Our Voices Emerge) deterrents against false allegations of child abuse are unworkable and the justice system is being exploited by a minority. L.O.V.E. is to begin lobbying the Government to introduce harsher penalties for people who have made false allegations. They also want the Government to examine why Section 5 (reporting false allegations) of the 1998 Act for Protection of Persons Reporting Child Abuse has, to date, never been enacted in a prosecution. A L.O.V.E. spokesperson said

"Health board statistics for 2000 found that 37.3 per cent of allegations of child abuse (physical, sexual, emotional and neglect) were confirmed, 9.4 per cent were deemed to be false and the remainder of cases were either found inconclusive or were still being investigated....

.... over a four-year period almost 5,000 people have had allegations made against them proven false. "That's a horrifically high figure and detracts valuable State and Garda time and resources from the real cases of abuse ...

.... at the moment approximately only 40% of child abuse allegations from Garda Siochanna and Health Board Statistics are confirmed.Up to 14.2% of child abuse allegations have been proven false, with the remainder inconclusive. The only two deterrents in existence are either too expensive (sue for defamation), or have never been used (the 1998 Act Section 5)"