Confessional not exempt from rules on reporting abuse

THE sacrament of Confession will not be exempt from rules on mandatory reporting of child abuse, Children’s Minister Frances Fitzgerald has vehemently insisted.

Amid the fallout from the Cloyne report’s exposure of former bishop John Magee for failing to report abusive priests, the minister reiterated warnings that there will be no exceptions to hardline rules on withholding information about child abuse.

New laws will also require frontline staff working with children taken into state care to investigate historic acts or allegations of abuse.