Further Church Abuse Allegations, by Patsy Mcgarry, Irish Times, April 14, 2011

Further Church Abuse Allegations

By Patsy Mcgarry
Irish Times
April 14, 2011

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/breaking/2011/0414/breaking68.html

Archbishop of Dublin Diarmuid Martin warned against any complacency where the protection of children was concerned

Child sex abuse allegations have been made against a further nine priests in Dublin’s Catholic archdiocese since publication of the Murphy report in November 2009. There have also been “suspicions” reported where a further two are concerned.

The Murphy Commission investigated the handing of child sex abuse allegations, by Church and State authorities, made against a sample 46 priests out of a total of 102 accused priests who came within the remit of the Murphy Commission and against whom such allegations were made between January 1st, 1975, and April 30th, 2004.

Of the nine further priests now facing such allegations, none had previously been on the records of the archdiocese, the director of its Child Safeguarding and Protection Service (CSPS), Andrew Fagan, said this evening.

He was speaking at Clonliffe College in Dublin where the Archbishop of Dublin Diarmuid Martin and staff of the CSPS office launched the diocesan policy for child safeguarding and protecting children.

Mr Fagan also said that since publication of the Murphy report a further 50 people had come forward with new allegations of sexual abuse against 20 priests, nine of which were those referred to above.

“Some” of the nine were out of ministry, he said, while in other instances investigations were taking place to establish whether the allegations were “sustainable” before the relevant priests would be asked to step aside from ministry.

He also said that archdiocese knew of 570 people who had been abused by priests and it was expected that more of such people would come forward.

He assured those who might wish to make such a disclosure to the archdiocese that it would be “heard in a spirit of acceptance and respect and that the gardai and HSE are told of every allegation.”

Archbishop Martin said that there had been an allegation against one priest since he assumed office in 2004 and that this man was out of ministry. However, he warned: “There may be others.” Many abused people “do not feel confident enough to come forward for many, many years [after their abuse ends],” he said.

He warned against any complacency where the protection of children was concerned and spoke of "the need to ensure that all our policies and norms are scrupulously observed".

It was why last night they had begun “holding a series of meetings with representatives, clergy and laity from all 199 parishes in the archdiocese who have undergone training and indeed retraining in child safeguarding over the past few years,” he said.

Mr Fagan said that from his experience “of over 25 years working in the field of child protection as practitioner, manager and inspector of services, I am confident that safeguarding and child protection practice in the archdiocese of Dublin is of the highest standard.”

But he too warned: “We can never allow ourselves to become complacent and we commit ourselves to a process of continuous evaluation and improvement, paying close attention to feedback we receive from those who use our service.”

In a statement this evening, campaigner for abuse victims Andrew Madden welcomed the publication of the child protection guidelines, and the commitment within the Dublin Archdiocese to ensure all these are compliant with the State’s Children First Guidelines.

He added: "It is worth pointing out that the State’s Child Protection Guidelines, Children First, are still only guidelines, there is no legal requirement on anyone to follow them and this is a situation which has to change."

Statistics provided by the archdiocese pointed out that 2,500 volunteers in its parishes have take part in safeguarding children programmes licensed by the Volunteer Development Agency. Over 17,000 people, including priests, have been vetted for child protection purposes by the Garda.

To date the archdiocese has paid out ˆ13.5 million in settlements where clerical child sex abuse is concerned 4.2 million has been in legal costs. In total 172 civil actions have been taken against 44 priests of the archdiocese, 117 of which have been concluded with 55 ongoing.

According to archdiocese figures, since 1940, 93 of its priests have faced allegations of child sex abuse with suspicions raised where a further 11 are concerned.

In addition there have been allegations against 60 priests from other dioceses or the religious congregations while serving in Dublin, with allegations also against nine priest members of religious congregations who had been doing temporary work in Dublin .

Suspicions have been raised where a further four priest members of religious congregations who held appointments in Dublin were concerned.

Ten priests or former priests in Dublin have been convicted or face conviction in the courts. An additional two non-diocesan priests who served in Dublin have also been convicted.

In total, allegations and suspicions have been raised against 177 priests who served in Dublin over the 70 year period from 1940 to 2010. Over that same period around 2,800 priests have held appointments in Dublin with a “significant” number doing supply work, according to figures from the archdiocese.