Clerical abuse victim offers to become test case

A SURVIVOR of clerical child sex abuse has offered to become a test case to establish if the garda have sufficient powers to prosecute clergy who covered up for paedophile priests.

Marie Collins, whose abuser, Fr Paul McGennis, was convicted after an investigation during which the Dublin Archdiocese withheld valuable evidence against him, said she was willing to make a formal complaint and assist a garda inquiry to see what obstacles it faced.

Her offer came as uncertainty continued over the ability of the garda to initiate prosecutions for failure to report abuse allegations under current legislation.

The Minister for Justice Michael McDowell last night announced a beefing up of the Garda Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault Unit.

Chief Superintendent Sean Camon, the senior garda in charge of the National Bureau of Criminal Investigation of which the unit is a part, is to be deployed full-time to the unit and have additional gardai assigned to work under him.

The unit also last night set up a special telephone line, 01-6663437, which will be manned from 9am to 9pm seven days a week with an answering service outside of those hours to enable members of the public to pass on information.

Minister McDowell admitted there were doubts over the ability of the garda to prosecute for failure to report abuse allegations, since a change in the law in 1997 abolished the long-standing offence of “misprison of felony”.

He said the strengthened garda sexual assault unit would analyse the type of cases in question and review particular cases with a view to seeing if further inquiries could be made which might lead to further criminal charges.

He said the unit would also investigate fully any fresh complaints of this nature. Minister McDowell announced the move to the Dail after confirming a State inquiry into the Catholic Church’s handling of its paedophile priests, although he said it was too soon to say what form the inquiry would take.

Victims representatives, including One In Four director Colm O’Gorman, who met with Minister McDowell and Health Minister Micheal Martin yesterday, said, however, they were confident of action and were happy to wait until the most effective forum was established.

Later, in a statement, Cardinal Desmond Connell said the Dublin Archdiocese would “co-operate fully with any body of inquiry set up by an appropriate authority” but he did not specify what would constitute an appropriate authority.