A long-awaited report into the handling of clerical child sex abuse allegations in the Diocese of Cloyne is due to be made public within weeks.

CHILDREN’S Minister Frances Fitzgerald has expressed concern about the “shortcomings and severe difficulties” experienced by the Catholic Church’s National Board for Safeguarding Children as it tried to investigate child protection in the 26 dioceses.

CHILD protection officers in the country’s 26 dioceses have received training in recent months on how much information to give to alleged abusers following the scandal in Cloyne where victim statements were handed to an accused priest before a garda interview.

CLERICAL abuse victims have expressed horror at a decision by the Diocese of Cloyne to appoint a child protection delegate who was forced to step down to the diocese’s child protection training committee.

NEW guidelines are to be issued to the country’s 26 dioceses and archdioceses outlining how to best handle sending priests on leave in the event of a clerical abuse allegation.

A SUPPORT group for victims of clerical abuse have received a letter from the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) warning them to halt their campaign seeking a prosecution of the notorious Father B in the Cloyne report.

THE Rape Crisis Centre has said the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) should meet the victims of clerical abuse in Cloyne to discuss his decision not to seek prosecution against the alleged serial paedophile in the 2008 Cloyne report.

THE Director of Public Prosecutions has decided against prosecuting former Bishop of Cloyne John Magee for reckless endangerment.

ANOTHER woman has made a formal complaint about the alleged serial paedophile priest at the centre of the National Board for Safeguarding Children’s report into the Diocese of Cloyne.

THE National Board for Safeguarding Children (NBSC) in the Catholic Church has admitted there are gaps in the Church’s child protection guidelines that will have to be closed following the resignation of the Cloyne child protection delegate last weekend.

CLAIMS that the child protection delegate in the diocese of Cloyne handed over a confidential file containing allegations of abuse to the priest at the centre of the allegations are being investigated by the Catholic Church.

A CAR belonging to the diocese of Cloyne’s former child protection delegate was vandalised overnight last weekend.

THE Catholic Church’sNational Board for Safeguarding Children (NBSC) has said it has “no evidence” to suggest that child protection guidelines are not being adhered to in all dioceses across the country.

SURVIVORS of clerical abuse say the Primate of All-Ireland and Archbishop of Armagh, Cardinal Seán Brady, told them he would comply with a statutory tribunal into the Church’s handling of clerical sex abuse complaints, if such a body was to be established.

TWO women from north Cork have made official complaints to gardaí that they were both abused as children by the same two priests.

THE second priest at the centre of 2008 National Board for Safeguarding Children (NBSC) report has been re-interviewed by gardaí in North Cork earlier this week and an updated file is to be sent to the Director of Public Prosecutions.

THE resignations of three more Irish bishops will be accepted by the Pope in the coming weeks following the departure yesterday of the Bishop of Cloyne.

THE resignations of three more Irish bishops will be accepted by the Pope in the coming weeks following the departure yesterday of the Bishop of Cloyne.

EMBATTLED Bishop of Limerick, Donal Murray was last year linked to a controversial attempt by a Church body to prevent the publication of the damning Cloyne report into clerical sex abuse.

THE author of the damning investigation into clerical abuse in the Diocese of Cloyne has applauded the Catholic Church for having undertaken “a truly remarkable” journey to a place where it could yet become a champion of child protection.

CONCERN is growing among children’s groups after the National Board for Safeguarding Children confirmed they cannot intervene in an alleged child abuse case involving three teachers in a primary school in the south-east.

A PRIEST in the Diocese of Cloyne has agreed to step aside from ministry pending the outcome of an investigation by Church authorities.

A MAJOR overhaul of structures and of senior personnel has taken place in the diocese of Cloyne since its dismal child protection record came to the fore at Christmas.

ARCHBISHOP Dermot Clifford, the new head of the Diocese of Cloyne, has met with several alleged victims of clerical sex abuse in the diocese and has extended invitations to others to meet with him shortly.

ARE the new Catholic Church guidelines, Safeguarding Children, really a step forward?

CLERGY in the Cloyne diocese are now “enthusiastically” pursuing child safeguarding measures, according to the national watchdog responsible for monitoring new child safety policies in the Church.

THE Catholic Church in Ireland, through the National Board for the Safeguarding of Children in the Catholic Church (NBSC), yesterday published revised guidelines on child protection following the recent scandal over allegations of child abuse by clerics in Cloyne.

GARDAÍ are investigating two new allegations of child sex abuse against a Cloyne priest already accused of four counts of child abuse in a Catholic Church report into the handling of sex abuse complaints in the diocese.

BECAUSE I am not a Catholic, I was reluctant to wade into the Bishop Magee controversy. The Ferns diocese in Co Wexford went through a decade of turmoil, which Cloyne is now experiencing. We discovered more than 100 individual allegations of clerical sexual abuse between 1962 and 2002. These involved 21 priests.

Catholic Primate Cardinal Sean Brady tonight said under-fire Bishop of Cloyne John Magee should not resign.

SINEAD is a woman in her late forties. A professional person leading a normal life.

WHETHER the four senior Catholic churchmen who yesterday publicly supported the embattled Bishop of Cloyne would have done so if they had been aware of allegations made public just last evening is questionable.

Health chiefs are to be investigated over the handling of clerical abuse allegations in the Catholic Church, it emerged tonight.

What the Government promised after Ferns:

WHAT has emerged in recent weeks about the cover-up of sex abuse complaints in the Diocese of Cloyne has been nothing short of shameful.

THE head of the Church’s child protection board raised concerns that the Diocese of Cloyne’s failure to fully co-operate meant there could be other complaints of abuse against priests of which the watchdog was not aware.

THE extent to which many people feel let down and angry was acknowledged by Cardinal Seán Brady yesterday as the Diocese of Cloyne accepted the findings of the HSE report into the management of child sexual abuse issues in the diocese.

THANK God for Ian Elliott and the Church’s National Board for Safeguarding Children (NBSC), because without that report we wouldn’t have a clue about the extent of the child abuse cover-up in Cloyne.

ANOTHER senior Catholic Church figure has asked Bishop John Magee to consider his position in light of the latest report into his failure to properly deal with sex abuse allegations.

Bishop of Cloyne John Magee tonight pledged to cooperate fully with the Commission of Investigation and again apologised to all victims of clerical sexual abuse.

THE advisory committee which tried to prevent the publication of a damning report into alleged child sex abuse in the diocese of Cloyne was appointed by, and is answerable to, Bishop of Cloyne John Magee.

YESTERDAY, as Fr Michael Mernagh ended his “pilgrimage of atonement” at Dublin’s Pro-Cathedral, where he was embraced by the Archbishop of Dublin, Dr Diarmuid Martin, we got an indication of the great pressure put on the National Board for Safeguarding Children (NBSC) chief executive Ian Elliott.

The Catholic Church has been left in a damaged position on Christmas Eve by the Cloyne child protection scandal, Bishop Willie Walsh has admitted.

ARCHBISHOP Diarmuid Martin has threatened to implement his own child protection system in a pointed statement criticising the structures adopted to avoid abuse scandals.