By Patsy Mcgarry
Irish Times
December 19, 2011
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/breaking/2011/1219/breaking3.html
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| Former Bishop of Cloyne John Magee. Photograph: Daragh Mc Sweeney/Provision |
The priest at the centre of Chapter 9 of the Cloyne report, redacted elements of which were published this evening, faced complaints from 13 people.
Four were young adults when the alleged abuse took place while the rest concerned child abuse. Two of the complainants are unidentified, one of whom was a young adult at the time of the alleged abuse.
Last Friday the High Court cleared way for publication of the redacted elements of the Cloyne report, which was published on July 13th last. These were not published then as court proceedings were pending against Fr Ronat, a pseudonym for the priest concerned. Those proceedings have concluded.
The report said that “a number of complainants told the commission that they were asked about hypnosis when they were making a complaint” to diocesan authorities. Fr Ronat told the commission that he did use hypnosis “but only as a hobby,” it said.
The commission said “complaints were not reported to the gardai when they should have been. They were not reported to the health board/HSE by the diocese until 2008.”
There were “no proper Church investigations of the complaints” and the Commission did “not accept that there was any real restriction on his (Fr Ronat) ministry.”
Where the gardai were concerned it found that the statement made to them by Matthew in March 2003 “seems to have been put in a drawer and forgotten about until raised by this investigation.”
The Apostolic Administrator of the Diocese of Cloyne, Archbishop Dermot Clifford, said it was regrettable that procedures for dealing with abuse cases were not carried out in Cloyne.
He said: "On behalf of the Diocese of Cloyne, and on my own behalf, may I express my profound sorrow and once again extend my sincere sympathy to those who have been abused and to their families.
"I would like to assure the public, and particularly the people of the diocese of Cloyne, that all of the child safeguarding procedures set out by the National Board for Safeguarding Children in the Catholic Church are being implemented fully."
Speaking after the report's publication, Minister for Justice Alan Shatter said stricter laws are needed to protect children.
“The litany of allegations made and the failure to appropriately report cases of abuse reinforces the need to enact a statutory measure for the protection of children in the future," he said.
Minister for Children Frances Fitzgerald said she was deeply disturbed by the findings of chapter 9.
“Their painful experiences recounted in the report were made many times more difficult by the desperately poor response they received from the church authorities in Cloyne.
“It is clear that the priority of the Church authorities in Cloyne was the protection of the institution of the Church and not the protection of children in the diocese or the protection of other children.”
The publication of redacted parts of the Cloyne report was today described as "insensitive".
The Dublin Rape Crisis Network said in a statement that "victims calling the national 24-hour helpline are angry and upset at the timing of this publication, as Christmas is an emotive time for them anyway".
Any person who needs support following publication of Chapter 9 should call either the HSE National Counselling Service helpdesk 1 800 234 116 or the Rape Crisis Centre national 24-hour helpline 1 800 77 8888.
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