Latest news with #FionaJennings
RTÉ News
11 hours ago
- Health
- RTÉ News
ISPCC joins worldwide project to tackle online child sexual abuse
The ISPCC has announced its participation in a global project to prevent and respond to online child sexual exploitation and abuse. Safe Online, a global fund dedicated to eradicating online child sexual exploitation and abuse, is funding the project called "Sandboxing and Standardising Child Online Redress". The initiative is being spearheaded by Greek non-profit child welfare organisation The Smile of the Child, and will be co-created by children and young people to ensure their voices are heard. The sandbox project will establish a first-of-its-kind mechanism to advance child online safety through collaboration across sectors, borders and generations. Sandboxes bring together industry, regulators and customers in a safe space to test innovative products and services without incurring regulatory sanctions. Through the participation of youth, platforms, regulators and online safety experts, this first regulatory sandbox for child digital wellbeing will provide for consistent, systemic care and redress for children from online harm. "This project is a wonderful example of what we can achieve when we collaborate and listen to children and young people," said ISPCC Head of Policy and Public Affairs Fiona Jennings. "Having robust online reporting mechanisms in place is a key policy objective for ISPCC and this project will go a long way towards making the online world safer for children and young people to participate in," Ms Jennings said. The project is led by The Smile of the Child, Greece's premier child welfare organisation and ISPCC is a partner alongside The Young and Resilient Research Centre at Western Sydney University, Child Helpline International and the Centre for Digital Policy at University College Dublin.
Irish Examiner
09-05-2025
- Irish Examiner
Computer game to spot the signs of online grooming to be rolled out in schools next term
A new computer game designed to spot the key signs of online grooming is being developed for roll-out for in-class teaching. The game is being designed under the Grosafe project in a partnership between the ISPCC and TU (Technological University) Dublin, funded by Research Ireland. It has been trialed in a small number of schools and the current phase of development is set to be completed by September. Fiona Jennings, ISPCC Head of Policy and Public Affairs, said the project is specially focused on 'how children and young people are groomed into criminality or for sexual exploitation purposes'. She explained: 'At the moment, by the end of this phase which will be around September, we are hoping that we will have further enhancements done to the digital game which we are trying to align with the SPHE outcomes as well for post primary schools.' She said the game will be made available free to schools, enabling teachers to use it in their SPHE classes. Ms Jennings said: 'We have been part of this research project since June 2023 and what we are trying to develop out of that is an in-classroom digital game through which children and young people will be offered education in terms of how to spot red flags for grooming. 'We have done brilliant school trials and co-created it with children and young people and they have been really receptive to that in terms of sharing their thoughts and ideas with us of how to create it.' She said the game will feature a reporting and chatbot function. She added: 'We are also developing a knowledge management system which I think will be really, really crucial. "What we have found from our stake holder engagement - we interviewed people on the frontline, frontline practitioners, State organisations, academics – is that one of the recurring things that kept coming up was how people struggle to identify what grooming behaviour looks like and if they do identify it, they don't know what to do with that. "So the knowledge management system would allow for practitioners to be able to log or upload some examples to help build a national picture as to what grooming in Ireland is like.' She pointed to the DRIVE project set up through the drugs taskforces and the Health Research Board around the issue of drug-related intimidation. Ms Jennings said: 'Drug-related intimidation is also difficult to spot. It can often be the starting point for more harmful things downstream, just like grooming for sexual exploitation which can be the starting point for much worse harm later on. "Often you'll hear from the testimony of children and young people who have been groomed that they were not able to recognise the signs. When we hear those stories, there are so many missed opportunities along the way for intervention.' She said that education is an important tool in helping children and young people stay protected from grooming, adding: 'Children learn well through gaming, including really complex ideas. For years, our Stay Safe programmes in schools have all been about stranger danger whereas we know now that children and young people are more than likely to be abused by someone they know within their own community.'
Irish Examiner
05-05-2025
- Politics
- Irish Examiner
ISPCC calls for national strategy to fight child sex abuse and exploitation
The ISPCC is calling on the government to develop a national strategy for child sexual abuse, child sexual exploitation and online risks to child safety, following a 'seminal' week in relation to child safety. The organisation's head of policy and public affairs, Fiona Jennings, said the One in Four report launched last Thursday, the PrimeTime investigation into the Christian Brothers aired on Thursday night and the recent publication of the Grace report highlight the need for such a strategy, as recommended in a report from the Garda Siochana Inspectorate in 2017. The Irish Attitudes to Tackling Child Sexual Abuse launched by One in Four on Thursday found that 40% of people know someone who was sexually abused as a child, while more than 90% of respondents believe society had failed to address child sexual abuse. 'Is this the moment that we will finally see this acted upon? This research (in the One in Four report) speaks to the need for a whole-of-society approach, it speaks to the need for one for not just child sexual exploitation offline but it also speaks to the online element as well. "Eight years later, we still don't have this recommendation in place, and we don't have to stray too far just to see how vulnerable victims and survivors of child sexual abuse have been treated,' said Ms Jennings. She said a national strategy would bring together all the different agencies and individuals who have expertise in different areas relating to child sexual abuse. She also said there is a need for an audit of Ireland's laws and guidelines in the area to 'ensure that our laws and policies are fit for purpose'. She added: 'I firmly believe that child sexual abuse is the last taboo that Ireland needs to tackle in a meaningful way. We have tackled divorce, we have tackled marriage equality, we have tackled reproductive rights. Now is the time that we need to tackle child sexual abuse. "If Thursday's report was not that seminal turning point, then I really worry as to what we actually do need.' The One in Four report was published on the same day as the PrimeTime documentary on the Christian Brothers, which revealed that two members who were senior leaders of the order over the space of two decades and managed the congregation's assets are now convicted child sexual abusers. Last Tuesday, the general solicitor for minors and wards of court, Marie-Claire Butler, claimed none of the "extensive" submissions made on behalf of the woman known as Grace were included "in any way" in the final report of the Farrelly Commission. The commission was tasked with examining allegations of abuse and severe neglect while she was in a foster home in the southeast over a 20-year period. While it found that Grace, who is now in her 40s and who is severely intellectually disabled, had been neglected and there was a lack of oversight for her care, the commission was not satisfied the evidence established she had been subjected to physical, sexual, or emotional abuse. Citing the One in Four report, the Christian Brothers documentary and the Grace report, Ms Jennings said: 'What do we actually need to do in order to get our policy makers to act?' The ISPCC will now be contacting the government to seek the implementation of such a strategy." She added: 'It is something that should be coordinated from the Department of the Taoiseach.'
