Tennis Ireland Child Safeguarding Statement – February 2019
Tennis Ireland provides sporting activities and opportunities for children and young people through participation in parks, clubs, regional, provincial events and with our representative teams. Tennis Ireland is committed to safeguarding children and young people. All our affiliated stakeholders work under the guidance and policies of our Safeguarding Code. All our volunteers and staff working with children throughout the organisation, seek to create a safe environment for children and young people to participate in Tennis.
Merlin Woods Tennis Club’s Safeguarding Risk Assessment indicates the areas of potential risk of harm, the likelihood of the risk occurring, and gives the required policy, guidance or process documents required to alleviate these risks. The list of risks identified are contained in the following categories: Club and Coaching Practices; Complaints & Disciplinary; Reporting Procedures; Use of Facilities; Recruitment; Communications; and General Risk of Harm.
Merlin Woods Tennis Club’s Child Safeguarding Statement has been developed in line with requirements under the Children First Act 2015, (the Children First: National Guidance and Tusla’s Child Safeguarding: A Guide for Policy, Procedure and Practice) and Gateway Northern Ireland. In addition to our Risk Assessment document described above, there are further procedures that support our intention to safeguard children while they are availing of our services.
Merlin Woods Tennis Club has the following procedures in place as part of the Tennis Ireland Safeguarding Code.
Procedures for the management of allegations of abuse or misconduct by staff or volunteers against a child availing of our activities
Procedures for the safe recruitment of staff and volunteers to work with children in our activities
Procedures for 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 the Statutory Authorities.
The Mandated Person for Tennis Ireland is Roger Geraghty, phone: 086 2316478.
We recognise that implementation is an ongoing process. We are 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 services. This Child Safeguarding Statement will be reviewed every 2 years.
Chairperson Mary-Ann Cheshire
Mary Ann Cheshire Child Safeguarding Statement