IRELAND
Irish Independent
Adrian Weckler
Last Friday, my step-daughter got up to sing at her Confirmation mass. It was a beautiful moment. She did credit to herself, her family and her school.
But all I have of it is a memory. Because a few minutes before she sang, the presiding priest told families that photographing the event would be illegal.
“According to the rules of child protection law, we have to ask you not to take pictures,” he said.
This is not an isolated incident. A spokesman for the Dublin archdiocese later said that this is now the advice given out to parishes: photos of kids’ events in churches are banned as a matter of “best practice”.
To thousands of parents in the middle of Communion and Confirmation season, it won’t feel like best practice. It will feel more like the latest in a series of depressing overreactions.
All over Ireland, there is a growing tension at children’s events. School plays and junior sports events are becoming no-go areas for cameras. An underage sports contest I recently attended required by-standing parents to fill out consent forms, ostensibly to give the organisers legal cover for any photos taken. Kids’ Christmas musicals now routinely forbid parents in the audience to take photos “for child safety reasons”.
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