Child Safeguarding Statement

Name of Service Being Provided:

Tours of the National Leprechaun Museum as well as Storytelling and Facilitation Workshops

 

Nature of Service and Principles to Safeguard Children From Harm:

The National Leprechaun Museum stands as Ireland’s sole museum devoted to the art of oral storytelling. We offer storytelling tours tailored for families and individuals, and occasionally conduct workshops for groups, ensuring that participants are at least six years old. Our core values revolve around respect, empathy, attentiveness, equality, and enjoyment. We firmly uphold the belief  that everyone deserves respect, with a special emphasis on children who, irrespective of creed, race, background, or orientation, have the right to safety and a sense of security. We are committed to providing empathy and attentiveness to each child.

Emphasizing the importance of play and fun, we assert that these principles are crucial for the fulfillment of our mission. We hold that without these principles, the enjoyment and play integral to our purpose would be unattainable. We are dedicated to ensuring that no child is exposed to physical or emotional harm while participating in any of our services.

 

Risk Assessment:

We have carried out an assessment of any potential for harm to a child while availing of our services including the area of online safety when accessing the internet. Below is a list of the areas of risk identified and the list of procedures for managing these risks.

Risk Identified: In the event of physical harm caused during a workshop or tour:

Procedure:
A. There is an immediate care assessment
B. Staff contact Emergency Services where necessary.
C. Staff notify parents or guardians
D. Staff document the incident
E. Management review procedures and cause
F. Management report to Director and Child Safeguarding Officer

Risk Identified: Contact with staff and partners

Procedure: All staff are recruited through safe selection procedures. Staff are almost never left alone with a child without a teacher, parent or guardian present. In those rare cases where this may be necessary, those staff are Garda vetted.

Risk Identified: The Potential for Harm

Procedure: Safety is considered prior to the installation of any new facility and in the maintenance of all existing facilities. A thorough risk assessment has been carried out for all museum events. Staff are made clear through regular training of the correct procedures in the event of an incident.

Risk Identified: Inappropriate content or facilitation

Procedure: All content is vetted by management on a regular basis. A storytellers’ content is formally audited once a year to encourage self-reflection. Staff who cannot abide by the content recommendations of management are dismissed.

 

Procedures

Our Child Safeguarding Statement has been developed in line with requirements under the Children First Act 2015, Children First: National Guidance for the Protection and Welfare of Children (2017), and Tusla’s Child Safeguarding: A Guide for Policy, Procedure and Practice. In addition to the procedures listed in our risk assessment, the following procedures support our intention to safeguard children while they are availing of our service:

    • Procedure for the management of allegations of abuse or misconduct against workers/volunteers of a child availing of our service;
    • Procedure for the safe recruitment and selection of workers and volunteers to work with children;
    • Procedure for provision of and access to child safeguarding training and information, including the identification of the occurrence of harm;
    • Procedure for the reporting of child protection or welfare concerns to Tusla;
    • Procedure for maintaining a list of the persons (if any) in the relevant service who are mandated persons;
    • Procedure for appointing a relevant person.

All procedures listed are available upon request.

 

Implementation

We recognise that implementation is an on-going process. Our service is committed to the implementation of this Child Safeguarding Statement and the procedures that support our intention to keep children safe from harm while availing of our service. 

This Child Safeguarding Statement will be reviewed on 10 March 2025, or as soon as practicable after there has been a material change in any matter to which the statement refers.

Signatories of this statement: Tom O’Rahilly, Director, Naoise O’Duinn, Child Safeguarding Officer

Name and Contact Details:

The National Leprechaun Museum of Ireland Ltd, 2/3 Marys Abbey, Dublin 7, D07X6R6

For queries, please contact Naoise O’Duinn , Relevant Person under the Children First Act 2015 at the address above or at rainbow@nlm.ie / 01 8733899