Ireland's Opportunity to Learn from England's Difficulties? Auditing Uncertainty in Child Protection

Abstract

The paper explores policy developments in the Republic of Ireland in relation to child protection and argues that they are in danger of replicating some of the mistakes made in England under New Labour. It is argued that a focus on standardisinf processes and procedures is misguided, diverting attention from the importance of attending to the complexities of communication sharing and decision-making in a very difficult area of work. Moreover, the issues that have emerged from abuse cases in Ireland will not be satisfactorily addressed by standardisation.