Roots Scouting Ireland has its history in two legacy Scouting organisations — the Scout Association of Ireland (SAI), formerly known as the Boy Scouts of Ireland, and the
Catholic Boy Scouts of Ireland (CBSI). The former traces its roots to 1908, and the latter was founded in 1927 – both trace their legacy to
Lord Baden-Powell's
Scout Movement. By 1908, the influence of Baden-Powell's Scout Movement had spread from Great Britain to Ireland. The first recorded meeting of Scouts in Ireland took place at the home of
Richard P. Fortune, a
Royal Naval Volunteer Reservist, at 3 Dame Street, Dublin on 15 February 1908 where four boys were enrolled in the Wolf Patrol of the 1st Dublin Troop. The earliest known Scouting event in Ireland took place in the
Phoenix Park in 1908 with members of the Dublin City Boy Scouts (later
Scouting Ireland S.A.I.) taking part. Because of the impacts to available adult leadership, the coming of the
Great War in 1914 could have affected the viability of Scouting in Ireland. Scouts contributed to the war effort in several ways, with the
Sea Scouts supporting the RN Coastguard. In
Dublin in the 1920s, two Roman Catholic priests,
Fathers Tom and Ernest Farrell, followed the progress of Scouting. They noted that in other countries, the
Catholic Church had taken up the idea of Scouting as a means of imprinting a Catholic ethos on young people. After some study and experimentation, they made a proposal to the
Catholic Hierarchy of Ireland and were granted a constitution and Episcopal patronage in November 1926. Thus, the
Catholic Boy Scouts of Ireland (CBSI) (
Gasóga Catoilici na hÉireann) was created. CBSI would later become the largest Scout association on the island. Although the two associations cooperated, particularly in international contexts, these two separate Scouting organisations (
SAI and the much larger
CBSI) operated as separate entities through the latter half of the 20th century.
2004 Merger On 1 January 2004, the two organisations were merged to form 'Scouting Ireland'. Each organisation had added 'Scouting Ireland' to their names in the decade before the merger. The merger was sanctioned in May 2003, when both associations agreed to join together to form a new single association. This in turn had followed from decisions in 1998 to set this process in motion. The 2010s marked a period of sustained membership growth. , Scouting Ireland had over 45,000 members across the island of Ireland, including
Northern Ireland, where it works in parallel with the
Scout Association in Northern Ireland (SANI), which is part of
The Scout Association in the
United Kingdom. This number consists of 34,000 young people, and 11,000 adult volunteers.
Controversies Safeguarding issues resulted in controversy in 2017 and 2018.
2015 death of scout On 6 December 2015, on a Scouting Ireland visit to the coast, 14-year-old scout Aoife Winterlich was swept out to sea. She died four days later. The visit was to
Hook Head, County Wexford, during
Storm Desmond. Scouting Ireland did not accept liability for Winterlich's death until 2024 when a case brought against them by Winterlich's mother was heard in
Dublin Circuit Civil Court. The court found that Scouting Ireland should have accepted liability much sooner, and awarded €54,000 against the organisation.
2017 review In July 2017, Scouting Ireland commissioned a review of the handling of child protection cases, which included an initial check on a small sample of more serious allegations. Arising from this review, led by safeguarding specialist Ian Elliott, a recommendation was made in November 2017 that the files on all historic cases of alleged abuse be further checked, in particular to understand if persons against whom allegations were made were still active in the organisation. The review did not make any assessment of allegations, major or minor, but noted areas for improvement in handling such cases, such as "without prejudice" suspensions instead of the then-operational "voluntary stepping aside" approach, and a recommendation against lobbying by accusees, which it concluded was happening in some cases. It was also reported that there were sometimes tensions between professional staff and volunteers, with the former feeling pressure from volunteers, while some volunteers perceived "heavy-handed" treatment of some allegations. The organisation made changes to its processes in response to the work of Elliott, including implementation of the "suspension without prejudice" concept, pending investigation, and plans for recruitment of a
safeguarding co-ordinator and additional child-protection officers.
Governance changes and funding restorations The Minister for Children partially restored State funding in June 2018. Funding was again suspended when the Chief Scout was invited to chair an EGM called to reform governance structures, and again restored after the meeting voted in favour of proposed changes, and the entire board stood down, allowing a completely new board to be elected.
Cases raised, November 2018 In November 2018 Scouting Ireland officials and the Minister for Children,
Katherine Zappone noted to the relevant committee of the
Oireachtas that a study of the organisation's records, and contacts from alleged victims, had revealed allegations related to abuse incidents, most notably from the 1960s to the 1980s. Most alleged abusers are dead, but where alleged abusers are living, Scouting Ireland has reported the allegations the
Garda Síochána and Ireland's child protection agency,
Tusla. To date, there was evidence of 108 alleged child sex abuse victims, from more than 400,000 members, and 71 alleged abusers (of whom 14 may have abused multiple children), out of more than 30,000 adult volunteers. Both records review and contacts are ongoing, and the numbers are likely to rise somewhat. The Minister noted that no alleged abuser is currently in Scouting Ireland.
2020 sex abuse report In 2019, Scouting Ireland commissioned Ian Elliot to undertake a "learning review" on the issue of sexual abuse within the organisation. The resulting report, titled "Historical Sexual Abuse in Scouting: A Learning Review", noted that the safety and wellbeing of young people had not always been prioritised "particularly through the eighties and nineties". The report found that there was "coverup and [..] a failure to report abuse". Scouting Ireland backed the findings of the report and issued an apology.
2021 "No Confidence" motion At the annual general meeting in 2021, the members approved a
motion of no confidence in the board, with regard to the changes made since the change to a company-only structure. == Campsites ==