HSE report to say bishops withheld case details

The release of a Health Service Executive report into child protection practices and allegations of clerical child sex abuse in all dioceses, to be published today, is expected to reveal that bishops failed to give details of individual abuse cases.

Minister for Children Barry Andrews is set to publish the long-awaited audit on Catholic Church dioceses, following a discussion on its contents at the Cabinet’s first meeting of the new year.

The audit will include a HSE examination of child protection activities in the diocese of Cloyne, where a separate report by a child protection board concluded safety measures were “inadequate and in some respects dangerous”.