IRELAND
The Irish Times
PATSY McGARRY, Religious Affairs Correspondent
VICTIMS’ RESPONSE: AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL has called on the PSNI to investigate whether there was a cover-up of criminal acts of child abuse in Northern Ireland in light of the BBC’s This Week documentary.
Amnesty has asked the PSNI “to investigate whether church officials and others failed to report the alleged criminal offences against children in Northern Ireland to the relevant authorities in Northern Ireland”.
Failure to report a crime is an offence under section 5 of the Criminal Law (Northern Ireland) Act 1967.
No such legislation existed in the Republic in 1975, when the church abuse inquiries dealt with in the programme took place.
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