Majority of clerical abuse victims ‘yet to come forward’, says Archbishop

By Caroline O’Doherty and Juno McEnroe

Archbishop Diarmuid Martin has said the majority of victims of clerical child abuse have yet to come forward and he called for a more supportive judicial system to assist them.

He said the number of victims in Ireland was “immense” due to the many roles the Catholic Church played over many years.

“Particularly in Ireland because of the industrial schools, the day schools, the Magdalene laundries, the mother and baby homes, the children abused by priests in parishes, the number of those abused is immense and the numbers that have come forward is only a proportion of that and there are many people that are still holding in their own hearts the sadness of abuse,” he said.

“There’s also a statistic in Ireland that has to be looked at, which is that the number of prosecutions is very low.

“Because of the system in our courts, it’s not an easy thing for somebody to have to go and tell their story in the courts, or even worse to hear their story told by others.”

I think there may be ways in which the judicial system could make it easier for those who come forward.”

He was speaking at the first of three days of events to mark the 2018 World Meeting of Families ahead of the visit of Pope Francis this weekend.

The visit comes amid turmoil in the Catholic Church over fresh revelations of child sex abuse and cover-ups, in the US, South America and Australia.

Two US cardinals due to appear at this week’s events had to cancel their trips to deal with the crises.

However, while Dr Martin defended his co-operation with state inquiries into abuse in his own Dublin archdiocese, which has been praised as the most forthcoming of all dioceses, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar added his voice to calls by victims for the release of all files on abuse and its concealment.

His comments come after survivor Colm O’Gorman and One in Four’s Maeve Lewis called for the Pope to commit to “complete transparency” on abuses and release files. Mr Varadkar told reporters: “Any information that is asked for by state authorities carrying out investigations into child abuse, whether it is held in Ireland or the Vatican should be made available.

“We want to make sure that there is truth and justice and healing for victims and that has to be part of it.”

Mr Varadkar said his meeting with the Pope this weekend would be brief but during the 10 minutes allotted he would include the abuse scandals among the issues he intended to raise.