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	Actions Taken in Relation to the Safeguarding of Children in the Diocese of Cloyne Roman Catholic Diocese of Cloyne July 17, 2011 http://www.cloynediocese.ie/2011/07/actions-taken-by-diocese-in-response-to-report/ CASE MANAGEMENT: Bill Meagher, a former child care manager with the HSE, has been appointed as Diocesan Designated Officer/Delegate for Safeguarding of Children. Fr John McCarthy has been appointed as Deputy Diocesan Designated Officer/Delegate The Diocese manages allegations, suspicions and concerns in accordance with the guidelines issued by the National Board for Safeguarding Children in the Catholic Church There is full cooperation and sharing of information with the Garda and the HSE We have established an Advisory Panel to discuss cases involving priests currently in ministry where clarity is lacking on the nature of suspicions raised and/or the course of action to be followed. Its membership is in line with the National Board for Safeguarding of Children guidelines An Advisor has been appointed to each priest out of ministry in line with National Board guidelines. Advisors have undergone appropriate training. TRAINING: The Cloyne Diocesan Safeguarding Children Committee has made the completion of training all priests in active ministry its priority. All priests have now been trained in Safeguarding Children. Training and Garda vetting of retired priests who are available for ministry in the Diocese is almost complete. There is a four month turn-around time in processing vetting applications by the Garda Vetting Unit. Working in tandem with the training, Garda vetting applications for all priests in Cloyne have been submitted for processing, and most have been completed. Each parish has now a trained representative in place, while most parishes generally have two. Some have three and more. As a result of the training, there have been information sessions or Child Awareness meetings held at parish level for those who work alongside children in their Church community. The Committee designed and circulated a draft parish checklist or self-audit tool. That was in turn sent to all parishes. Subsequently, Members of the Committee set about visiting all the 46 parishes. The Committee had a Resource Pack to help each parish implement safeguarding policies and procedures. The analysis of this audit of parishes has begun and should be completed in the near future. During this time, a subcommittee was established. It dedicated itself to producing a new revised edition of the safeguarding children policy for the Diocese of Cloyne. This was a formidable and considerable task. The resulting comprehensive document allows for referencing child safeguarding matters e.g policy statement, procedures, codes of behaviour and so forth. This policy document has been approved by the National Board for Safeguarding of Children in the Catholic Church It has now been distributed to all priests and is in the process of being distributed to all parish representatives. From the Safeguarding Children in the Diocese of Cloyne Policy, came the Parish Policy, which addressed the need for an easily readable manual that could be widely distributed in the parishes. The response to the purchasing of noticeboards dedicated solely to the display of the Churches Safeguarding Contact Details was significant. In each church a record is maintained of all persons present in the sacristy area for any occasion. This includes altar servers, priests, sacristans, readers, Eucharistic ministers and any other church personnel. Structures have been put in place to reach out to every corner of every parish in the Diocese so that people will have full and adequate information on safeguarding of children. It will be clearly demonstrated how to act where suspicions arise and where allegations are being made, the contact details to obtain advice and assistance and the means of transmitting vital information
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