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	Bishop in Meeting to Defuse Row over Sex Abuse Clergy By Ralph Riegel and John Cooney Irish Independent April 21, 2008 http://www.independent.ie/national-news/bishop-in-meeting-to-defuse-row-over--sex-abuse-clergy-1353882.html ONE of Ireland's highest profile bishops will hold talks with the head of the Catholic Church's child protection office to defuse a potential Church-State row over paedophile clergy. The Bishop of Cloyne, Dr John Magee has arranged the crucial meeting to stave off a possible Government probe into his handling of alleged child rapes by priests in his diocese. He said he had been surprised by the comments attributed to Ian Elliott of the National Board for Safeguarding Children (NBSC) which suggested that the diocese had not been cooperative. Today's urgent meeting between Cloyne officials and the NBSC was confirmed last night -- just days after Pope Benedict made the issue of clerical child abuse one of the themes of his visit to the US. The talks centre on an allegation of child abuse against a priest, which has been sent to the Children's Minister Brendan Smith, and is now being examined by the HSE. The minister has the power to refer the case for full investigation by the Government-appointed Commission of Investigation under Judge Yvonne Murphy. Today's meeting between Bishop Magee and Mr Elliott has been organised ahead of the pending publication of the Church's first national audit of the country's 26 dioceses and 166 religious orders into the exact scale of clerical sex abuse. Mr Elliot confirmed in one newspaper over the weekend that the NBSC has been made aware of concerns surrounding issues of abuse in the diocese of Cloyne -- and the manner in which these allegations were initially handled. But it was claimed that the diocese of Cloyne had not given all the details that the NBSC had requested. Surprise Last night, Dr Magee expressed surprise at the claims and defended the actions of his diocese. The southern bishop revealed that his diocesan officials had already met with the NBSC twice -- and a third meeting was not arranged only because of availability issues with the NBSC. In a statement to the Irish Independent, Dr Magee said his diocese had always offered the fullest cooperation to the NBSC. "Bishop Magee and other representatives of the diocese have met with Ian Elliott, director of the NBSC on two occasions to discuss the matter of child protection in the diocese," a spokesman said. "A letter from Bishop Magee, dated March 24, to Mr Elliott offered him a further meeting on either April 4, 7, 14 or 21. In this letter and at previous meetings Mr Elliot was offered full cooperation and access to all relevant files. This is still very much the position," he added.
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