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	Church Appoints Child Protection Director Strategy Is to Move beyond Apologies for Abuse By John Cooney Irish Independent [Ireland] May 31, 2007 http://www.independent.ie/national-news/church-appoints-child-protection-director-686926.html The Catholic Church in Ireland has appointed its first national director for child protection. This move is part of its proactive strategy of trying to go beyond merely apologising for the scandal of clerical sex abuse. The appointee, Ian Elliott, is currently director of the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children in Belfast. He will take up his new appointment on July 1 as chief executive officer of the Church's National Board for Child Protection, chaired by Anthony Hederman, a former judge of the Supreme Court. Both the position of CEO and the National Board were promised by the Catholic bishops in their 2005 child protection document, 'Our Children, Our Church'. The board has been chargedby an amalgam of the Bishops' Conference, the Conference of Religious of Ireland and the Irish Missionary Union with monitoring the implementation of child protection measures within the Catholic Church in the Republic and Northern Ireland. On secondment to the Department of Health, Social Services and Public Safety, Mr Elliott has led a major reform programme for Northern Ireland's child protection services. Educated at St Andrew's and Trinity College, Mr Elliott has specialised in social work since 1974. Announcing the appointment, Mr Hederman said the board was confident that Mr Elliott's combination of energy, commitment, professional expertise and experience would greatly strengthen the Church's capacity in the crucial area of child protection. Mr Elliott said he saw his role as helping the Catholic Church "to move beyond apology. Mistakes are tragic when not learned from. It's imperative that in future we don't put the rights of anyone above the rights of the child." Describing himself as a "person of action and impatience", Mr Elliott promised to embark on face-to-face meetings with churchmen and women and involved laity, with a view to supporting them in addressing the issue of child protection. "Children are protected by the actions of people, not by policies and procedures alone," he said. "It is the willingness of ordinary men and women within the Church to undertake this task that will ultimately determine if children are better protected in the future or not." Bishop Colm O'Reilly, who chairs the One-Church Committee of bishops and leaders of religious congregations, which liaises with the National Board, also welcomed the appointment. "The Church is extremely pleased to have secured a person of Ian's proven integrity, expertise and stature," he said. Meanwhile, the Commission of Inquiry into child sexual abuse in the diocese of Dublin is expected to seek an extension of its deadline to issue its report by September.
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