IRELAND
The Irish Times
Editorial
The publication of the final tranche of current reviews by the National Board for Safeguarding Children in the Catholic Church in Ireland has tended to be overshadowed by another appalling case of church cover-up and mishandling of clerical child sexual abuse.
In this instance it involved serial abuser Fr Paddy McDonagh and his Salvatorian congregation superiors. It should not be forgotten that this came to national attention because the board published its stark review of that case.
It was the latest example of a robust integrity which has characterised the board’s work since it was set up in 2006.
Based at Maynooth and funded by the Irish Bishops’ Conference, the Conference of Religious of Ireland, and the Irish Missionary Union, it has operated with a studied independence of those bodies. This has been so even as tensions developed but also, as proven repeatedly, in its published reviews. These, frequently, have been unsparing of relevant church personnel and institutions.
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