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	Main Points: Commission of Investigation into the Catholic Diocese of Cloyne Irish Times July 14, 2011 http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2011/0714/1224300713020.html The response of the Cloyne diocese to complaints and allegations of clerical child sexual abuse in the period 1996 to February 1st, 2009 was inadequate and inappropriate. All the allegations were made after 1996, when the church had put in place procedures for handling child sexual abuse complaints. The reaction of the Vatican to these procedures was “entirely unhelpful”, and gave individual Irish bishops the freedom to ignore the procedures that they had agreed. The Vatican’s stance also gave “comfort and support” to those, like Msgr Denis O’Callaghan, who dissented from official church policy. The response of the Garda was, with a few exceptions, adequate and appropriate. The response of the health authorities was adequate and appropriate “given the information available to them and limited powers which they have”. The commission is not convinced the State’s laws and guidelines are sufficiently strong and clear for protecting children. The Bishop of Cloyne, John Magee, was ineffective and appeared to take little real interest in the implementation of existing church guidelines on child sexual abuse for 12 years. Msgr O’Callaghan, charged with investigating abuse claims against priests, was “uncommitted” to the guidelines, frustrated their implementation and acted in what he perceived were the best interests of the church. The report describes the handling of “allegations, complaints, suspicions and concerns” about child sexual abuse in respect of 19 clerics. One of these, and the only person named, is Bishop Magee. Nine of the complaints that should have been reported to the Garda were not reported. None of the complaints between 1996 and 2008 was reported to the Health Service Executive. A complaint about Bishop Magee was dealt with appropriately but illustrated the need to have a clear mechanism for dealing with complaints against bishops. In the complaint, a young man alleged Bishop Magee embraced him for a minute. Bishop Magee was shocked at the interpretation of his actions and said he was providing comfort to a young man with family difficulties.
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