Irish Examiner
July 13, 2011
http://www.irishexaminer.com/breakingnews/ireland/ojkfcwgbojmh/
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Children's Minister Frances Fitzgerald has said that the Cloyne abuse report reveals that, in the 12 years between 1996 and 2008, nine out of 15 complaints of abuse which should have been reported to gardaí, were not reported.
"That's very nearly two thirds of complaints un-reported, un-investigated and un-prosecuted," she said, at the publication of the report today.
"For complaints which should have been reported to the health authorities the figures are even more stark; between 1996 and 2008 not one single complaint was reported. Not one," she added.
Earlier, Justice Minister Alan Shatter said that a small number of cases where the Garda handling of allegations has been called into question have been handed over to the Garda Ombudsman.
On the inquiry, he said: "Many of its findings are for others to account for. But for any failings on the part of the State through the years, we express our profound sorrow.
"This report is about just some of those who, as children, were abused by people they respected as arbiters of right and wrong – whose complaints were handled atrociously – and who now find that some of the promises that were made that other children would be kept safe were empty."
The Government said it will set up a vetting bureau, with new laws enacted in the autumn to allow the sharing of soft information on people wishing to work with children.
There are also plans to bring in laws making it an offence to withhold information on crimes against children and vulnerable adults.
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