Sex abuse not cited in first State inquiry

NO reference was made to sexual abuse in the State’s first official document referring to non-accidental injury of children, the Inquiry into Child Abuse heard yesterday.

Issued by the Department of Health in March 1977, the four-page memo contained a checklist to identify physical abuse cases and what steps should be taken.

The previous April an Irish expert committee had reported to the department on non-accidental injury in the wake of British girl Maria Colwell’s killing by her stepfather.