Ireland - "Transgender childcare worker sacked for offering child 'a free kiss' as a prize"

[ItsCoolForCats]

A nursery hired a man called Aleena Starshine (🙄) and 4 days into his employment he offered a child a kiss from him as a reward for winning a game. He was suspended for this and other safeguarding concerns, and then tried to claim gender discrimination. Thankfully, he lost.

https://businessplus.ie/news/transgender-childcare-worker-sacked/

Check his hard drive.

Reading that report it seems as though he was only investigated because the parents complained. Does this mean he was in sole charge of the children or did the other care workers not even notice or care he was asking/offering kisses?

Presumably he had whatever qualifications were required from the role. It raises questions about what filtering should be allowed and how you do it.

Scrape of public social media? Any fetish content and you're out? People would just lock their accounts while applying for jobs.

Do you think the interview process may have been inadequate? Or the training? Or does he know quite well what he's supposed to do and just let the mask slip once in the job?

This is where common sense kicks in.

I would have concerns about whether a man who presents as a woman understands the basics of safeguarding children. I'd probably conclude that they don't, unless they addressed this fact head on at interview and explained how they were going to address their presentation with the children while also respecting children's need for clear boundaries and to be shielded from lies.

Any employer would be well advised to make a brief check of candidate's social media, yes. It isn't a 'scrape' to look someone up and see what they share publically online.

And yes, anyone posting publically viewable 'fetish' content should be barred from working with children.

• because, in case this needs spelled out, this indicates a serious lack of understanding of appropriate boundaries.

But surely you couldn't broach that subject at interview because you might get accused of discrimination, especially in Ireland?

There was a thread on MN not so long ago about employing trans/NB candidates and lots of people said they wouldn't because they saw them as hard work. In reality they'd move on to the next best qualified candidate.

Fucksake. I bet he'll have been courted by all the "intersectional feminists" in Ireland, to show how progressive they are. He's probably won a diversity award or two.

To be quite frank thorough safeguarding should have been done before employing such a man to work with small children in a creche.

It appears he is in a singing group who sung at a benefit for Mayo Rape Crisis.

I volunteer with young kids.

The number of times I have to gently and politely moved a child who has plonked down in my lap, or kindly ended a hug because, despite it being totally innocent and those wee kids just wanting the security of someone they perceive as a trusted adult, it's inappropriate.

I can't bear the thought of men like this twat working with these vulnerable, tiny kids, smashing through those safeguards that most of us mindfully and diligently maintain; normalising and framing kissing random people as some kind of desirable 'reward' and even worse, him seeing no issues even when it's pointed out 🤢🤢🤢

I'd feel like this whatever he wore or named himself.

That's why I'm saying I'd expect him to raise it.

Otherwise it would just be a no. Not a risk I'd be willing to take.

He must have had a fellow traveller on the interview board. Nothing else makes sense to me, and I don't care who is offended, there's no way a transwoman would be working in any facility where there are children ever, if I had any say in it. Too big a risk to take and while it might be a knee jerk reaction I don't care.

Quite. Just a look at his name shows he has not yet reached a level of adult maturity required to be responsible for the safety of young children.

Jesus wept!

What do you mean by that comment?

This reminds me of the way that everyone fell for Jimmy Saville, even they all knew what a seedy creep he was. It seems when something/someone is promoted as being worthy or good or moral ( Saville and his charity work) for many their inclination is to turn off their brain as well and their instinctive perve alert. Come on! Who wouldn't be alarmed if such a man applied for a job working with children?

GO woke, go broke. Or in this case go woke and put the charges in your care at risk. What absolute idiot thought this was ever a good idea? Bet they were so proud of themselves for being so progressive and so so clever. Four days and the ba$tard showed his true colours. I hope the left leaning disgrace that hired this fuckwit bloke has been sacked for not putting the safety of those children before their woke claptrap.

I take that to mean that Ireland has been caught up in a virtue signalling trap of its own making - in trying to posit itself as a 'progressive', post colonial country.

Yep.

Plus, red flag here as potentially the early stage of grooming........ joking about kissing the children.

Ireland was one of the first countries in the world to introduce Self ID.

Agreed. But all he had to do to circumvent that precaution is lock his social media while applying. What else? I think we may well suspect a man turning up in a spinny skirt calling himself Starshine or whatever it was is already a red flag that he's a higher risk than the average applicant, but that's not something they're allowed to take into account is it? It's also true that men in general are a much higher risk than women but you're not allowed to discriminate on sex either unless the occupational requirement exception applies.

Whether I blame the employer or not depends on to what extent he's tried and succeeded in hiding his lack of appropriate boundaries during the interview process really. I think.

All candidates should be asked about their understanding of safeguarding at interview and given training too. Dodgy blokes can be convincing liars though so that doesn't necessarily help.

You can take anything you like into account. You just don't document it specifically.

It is really weird to employ this person. You don’t have to outwardly discriminate. A MN tinkly laugh and “So sorry, you were very impressive but on this occasion there were a number of better qualified applicants” would do the trick.