Parade children in a secret location to deter perverts? Don't make me laugh.

Here's a novel idea: hold a children's beauty contest in a secret location to thwart perverts. I'd laugh if I wasn't so pissed off. It's not the absurdity of holding holding children's beauty pageants that pisses me off; nor the nonsense of holding them in a secret place (if you're that worried about attracting pedophiles don't hold the bloody contest in the first place); nor even the whole questionable business of having children keep the whole thing secret from their friends (which I assume they will have to do if it's all to be 'our little secret.')

What pisses me off is the reported declaration by organiser Stephanie Murphy that everybody who has anything to do with the event such as jewellery sellers (jewellery sellers?), photographers etc must be Garda vetted. This pisses me off because Garda vetting takes about three months (ridiculous but that's another story). In the queue for vetting are child care agencies and other bodies working with children who cannot take on staff until they have been vetted. Frankly their work matters a great deal more than Ms Murphy's distasteful nonsense - and it sickens me that these workers have to stand in line with Ms Murphy's jewellery sellers.

Garda vetting is a scarce resource - it shouldn't be but it is. I resent seeing that scarce resource wasted on these idiotic pageants and for that reason I wish Ms Murphy would find something better to do with her energy. Read the whole story here.