I have a niece, living in England, who follows her vocation as a kind and caring teacher of children. She was recently here for a visit, and in conversation was asking about some aspects of our schooling system. One of her questions was to wonder if the law was the same in Ireland as in England where teachers are not allowed apply sun cream on children. It is considered to be inappropriate touching.

I was glad to be able to answer that not only is there no such law in Ireland, neither is there any such law in England. The fact that young people working with children believe that there is such a legal rule demonstrates the level to which misguided pseudo child-protection policies have become part of our accepted thinking.

Effective child protection policies are vitally important. However sometimes these policies manage to adopt the contradictory beliefs that while…