Dr Niall McElwee, former head of Childcare at Athlone Institute of Technology, was convicted of two counts of attempted indecent assault involving four teenage American girls at a hotel in Amsterdam in 2004.

He was given a suspended sentence in 2005, but was nevertheless able to continue in his childcare post, even though a range of public officials were aware of his conviction. He resigned from his post last summer following media attention and the threat that his conviction would be exposed.

An independent report, commissioned by the Health Service Authority (HSE), concluded that the public officials who became aware of Dr McElwee’s conviction did not follow established child-protection guidelines.

"It is the opinion of the review inquiry team that it can reasonably be stated that if such procedures had been followed by the public officials who were aware of the incident, timely and clear outcomes in a child-protection context could have been achieved," the report states.

The lack of a statutory basis for the Children First child-protection guidelines means there are no specific obligations on individuals to report child abuse, the report continues.

It recommends that legislative effect be given to placing a statutory obligation on all state agencies to comply with Children First, as recommended by the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child.

The report, written by management consultant Conal Devine and child protection consultant Eoin Rush, also strongly endorses an initiative to develop reciprocal vetting arrangements with other EU countries for the sharing of child-protection information on individuals.

In the absence of such an arrangement, the report says it may be appropriate to consider placing a requirement on HSE staff who work directly with children or vulnerable adults, and who avail of career breaks outside of the jurisdiction, to furnish a police certificate from that jurisdiction before going back to work.

Fine Gael Immigration spokesman Denis Naughten maintains there is an urgent need for an EU register of sex offenders.

"The Niall McElwee case... raises another matter. If the state cannot prevent Irish sex offenders from working with vulnerable people, how can it do anything about offenders from any of the other 26 member states?

"We urgently need a central register for sexual offenders for all 27 EU member states. Fine Gael is campaigning for a system whereby information is shared and can be used to track convicted criminals leaving or entering Ireland.

"There is currently no sex offenders’ database and no central database of serious criminal convictions in the EU... The Gardai currently do not have the resources to adequately screen people coming into this country. The Association of Garda Sergeants & Inspectors has called for just such a centralised EU sex offenders’ database.

"This issue has already been highlighted... In Belgium, the Government proposed pooling of information after a convicted sex offender from France was able to work with children in Belgium. The Irish Government should be actively supporting the Belgian initiative, and a similar one from Finland. So far it has little interest in either," Mr Naughten said. (Sources: Irish Times and other)