IRELAND
Irish Mirror
BY ADELINA CAMPOS
Only 2.5% of sex abuse claims made against priests in Ireland since 1941 resulted in criminal convictions, it has emerged.
Newly-released reports by the Catholic Church’s child protection watchdog revealed 325 allegations were made against 141 priests or brothers in the past seven decades.
Of those, only eight ended with a conviction.
Teresa Devlin, chief executive of The National Board for Safeguarding Children in the Catholic Church, said: “Overall there is considerable improvement in safeguarding practice evidenced in these reports”.
“The history is undeniable, that once again a significant number of children were abused in the care of religious institutions.”
The latest reviews cover eight male orders including the Jesuits, Rosminians, and Capuchins, as well as 35 female orders. The reports state the Jesuit Order failed to tell gardai about at least 22 claims of sex abuse in the past four decades.
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