IRELAND
Irish Examiner
By Cormac O’Keeffe
ASSURANCES by the Catholic hierarchy that their child abuse guidelines are being enforced will not be accepted at “face value”, Justice Minister Michael McDowell said yesterday.
He said the proposed national audit of dioceses would check whether the guidelines are in fact being implemented.
The minister said he was also considering “with a view to implementation” a recommendation in the Ferns Report that both priests and alleged abuse victims receive free legal aid in court cases.
Mr McDowell said Minister for Children Brian Lenihan had written to bishops asking them whether they were implementing, as claimed, their own 1996 guidelines on handling child sex abuse allegations.