A TOTAL of 197 allegations of physical, emotional and sexual abuse of children were reported to the Catholic Church child protection watchdog in the year ending March 31st, 2010.
The figures were included in the second annual report of the National Board for Safeguarding Children, published in Dublin yesterday by its chairman, John Morgan, and chief executive, Ian Elliott.
The board was set up in 2006 and aims, through the development of policies and procedures, to guide all 186 constituent members of the Catholic Church in Ireland towards best practice in safeguarding children. It also monitors that practice through regular audits and reviews.
Of the 197 individuals against whom allegations were made, approximately 140 had not faced such allegations before, according to the authors of the report.
Some 87 of the allegations related to priests of the 26 Catholic dioceses, while 110 came through religious congregations and missionary societies. All were reported to the relevant statutory authorities.
None of the new allegations were made by children or young people. Some referred to incidents which took place in the 1950s and 1960s but were now emerging for the first time. Some 83 of the 197 alleged perpetrators of abuse were dead. Of the living 114, 35 had been laicised or dismissed from their congregation.
The breakdown of the 114 showed 47 related to the dioceses and 24 of these were out of ministry, with 10 in some form of limited ministry. Five had been laicised and eight had retired.
The remaining 67 living related to the congregations. Five were in limited ministry, 32 were out of ministry entirely, and the other 30 had been dismissed from their congregation.
Where alleged perpetrators continued in some form of limited ministry, it was with the approval of the board’s national office on being provided with required information by the relevant church authority. In each such case, the allegation which led to the accused being removed from full ministry had not been proven in any civil or canon law process.
The report also showed the board had responded to 99 specific requests for its involvement in safeguarding issues last year. Of these, 53 came from 23 of the dioceses and 42 were from 24 congregations. There were four requests from the missionary societies.
The board has also provided training in child protection at 58 events across the island over the year ending March 31st last. The report stated that “the demand for training far exceeds present capacity to meet it”.
It noted that “many of the hierarchy have sought to avail of some of the training provided by attending the events themselves, often along with their diocesan delegate or officer.”
The “emphasis on all training delivered by the national office [of the NBSC] is on uniformity and consistency. We wish to embed best practice and compliance with the agreed standards and guidance issued in February of last year. Some of the training has been delivered prior to the development of policy as is the case in relation to recording and storage of information.”
It also indicated a certain frustration with the State’s policy on child protection, pointing out that “the absence of an agreed national policy here had led to considerable variation in the quality of case recording, which led the national office to devise and deliver three two-day training programmes aimed at providing clear guidance on what is expected in recording practice.”
This new policy would be adopted across the church “and will represent the expected standard all parts of the church have to reach in their practice,” the report said. A training manager is to be appointed at the board’s national office in coming months to assist with the demand for training in child protection.
