A Sligoman who is the son of a former schools' inspector is at the forefront of an international effort to prevent child abuse - and all because of his experiences as a pupil in St. John's School in Sligo.

Evin Daly is the founder of One Child International, which operates the international Child Abuse Watch network (abusewatch.net), a child prevention resource for the public and law enforcement.

The mission of One Child is to protect children from abuse by providing prevention information to the public.

One Child International's headquarters is in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, in the United States. It recently opened a European headquarters on Merrion Square in Dublin.

Evin says his interest in assisting child victims stems from his experience in St. John's where a number of teachers who taught during his time there were subsequently convicted child abusers.

Apart from funding from its board of directors, One Child's benefactor is the Ware Foundation in Coral Gables, Florida.

Child AbuseWatch resources provide prevention, and crisis and emergency information to the public in the U.S., Canada, Ireland, Britain, Europe, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand. The Child AbuseWatch group describes itself as "an activist" on child exploitation and provides

"Watchdog" services for absconded sexual offenders to the police, as well as investigating and tracking absconded child abusers.

Evin Daly grew up in Sligo, having attended Scoil Ursula and St. John's Primary School during the late 1960s and early 1970s.

His father, Michael, was schools' inspector and a founder of the Yeats Summer School.

Evin attended Belvedere College in Dublin and the College of Marketing and Design (1979-1983).

In July 1987, he immigrated to New York, where he worked for a division of Ogilvy and Mather Inc., an international advertising, marketing, and public relations agency that operates 497 offices in 125 countries around the world and employs approximately 16,000 professionals.

His professional career has been in public relations and marketing with emphasis in the emerging technology sector.

Evin and his family moved to Boca Raton, in Florida, in 1996. He retired from the technology business in 2003, but has business interests in Florida.

He is a volunteer Guardian ad Litem at the 15th Judicial Circuit in Palm Beach, Florida, where he represents abused, abandoned and neglected children in court. He has represented 72 children to date and is a specialist in handling child abuse cases.

The Guardian Ad Litem Program (www.galpbc.org) and volunteer guardians advocate for abused, neglected and abandoned children in Palm Beach County, Florida. Evin is an educator for the program and for court-appointed special advocates.

One Child International and Child AbuseWatch were launched in 2008 as a means of sharing resources _ and information with the 350 Guardian ad Litem volunteers and staff at the 15th Judicial Circuit in West Palm Beach. It quickly expanded to incorporate much needed information for the public and professionals.

Evin is the past president of the Voices for Children Palm Beach County in Florida, a not-for-profit group that helps abused and neglected children.

He is married with five grown children who live in Boca Raton, San Francisco and Seattle.

His wife, Laura, is a paediatric intensive care nurse and is the founder of the Laura Daly Foundation in Palm Beach, a fund dedicated to children in need.

Evin is certified in End of Life Care and is a volunteer at the Hospice Care Centre at Hospice by the Sea in Boca Raton.

He was the recipient of the 2006 Guardian of the Year Award for Palm Beach County.

- HARRY KEANEY