Report: Cloyne only Irish diocese not to follow child-protection procedures

December 24, 2008

An audit conducted by Ireland’s Health Services Executive has reportedly found that the Diocese of Cloyne was the only Irish diocese not to follow child-protection procedures. The audit was commissioned two years ago, but its results have not been made public.

Bishop John Magee’s actions in the face of clerical abuse in his diocese led Archbishop Diarmuid Martin of Dublin to issue a statement yesterday. “Archbishop Martin has made it known both to the Irish Bishops' Conference and to the national board that if serious doubts were to persist concerning the coherence and consistency of approach in any system, he would find it necessary to implement his own system of accountable child protection … Archbishop Martin awaits to be satisfied by the national board, through reasonable written assurance, that all dioceses and religious congregations have committed themselves to a common system and are applying it in a uniform way.”

An editorial in today’s Irish Times called upon Bishop Magee to resign and detailed instances in which he failed to report abuse allegations to police.

 

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Further information:

• Cloyne ‘was only diocese not to follow procedures’ (Belfast Times)
• About the HSE
• Church's reputation set back years by Cloyne (Irish Times)
• Archbishop concerned by child protection policy (Irish Times)
• Editorial: The position of Bishop Magee (Irish Times)