Watchdog warns Church must remain vigilant on abuse

By Aedín Donnelly
Newstalk
May 12, 2014

http://www.newstalk.ie/Church-must-remain-vigilant-on-abuse-says-watchdog

The Catholic church's child protection watchdog says the fact that a priest was convicted of abusing a child this year shows the Church needs to remain vigilant on abuse.

In the capital, 40 priests were the subject of child safeguarding concerns over the past ten years, 27 of them have been sanctioned.

This is the fourth set of reports from the National Board for Safeguarding Children in the Catholic Church, looking at the dioceses of Dublin, Cloyne, Meath and Killaloe.

The reports are largely positive, with high praise for the safeguarding practices observed in Dublin and Cloyne, the areas covered in the first two reports released today.

But the reports do of course mention the dark past of both areas - when the diocese of Cloyne was found to have inadequately or inappropriately responded to child abuse and where the Dublin diocese was more concerned with avoiding scandal than protecting children.

Today's report on Dublin notes that, in the past decade, 40 priests were the subject of child safeguarding concerns.

27 of these priests have had their ministries terminated or restricted - where those concerns proved credible or were proven.

The NBSCCC says that the fact that one priest was convicted as recently as this year for child abuse carried out between 2007 and 2011 - shows the need for continued vigilance.

Responding to the reports, the new Children's Minister Charlie Flanagan says child safety is paramount:

The investigating teams praised both dioceses for their robust child protection systems currently in place.

In Dublin, among the recommendations were for the development of guidelines on the correct use of the internet and mobile phones.

While in Cloyne - the diocese was advised to draw up a whilstleblowing policy for anyone concerned about a child.