Clifford meets with alleged Cloyne sex abuse victims

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.

The Archbishop of Cashel and Emly took over the day-to-day running of the diocese earlier this month after he was appointed apostolic administrator of the diocese by Pope Benedict XVI. Bishop John Magee is now concentrating on co-operating with the Dublin Archdiocese Commission of Inquiry investigation into alleged child sex abuse in the diocese. A spokesman for the diocese refused to comment on the meetings beyond confirming they had taken place.

Meanwhile, the Cloyne diocese has confirmed that training has been given to those charged with supervising Father B, the priest at the centre of several civil cases and who was accused in the National Board for Safeguarding Children (NBSC) report of abusing four different children between 1995 and 2005. Father B is on restricted ministry and living in the north Cork area. In recent weeks, two more women have gone to the gardaí with claims they too were abused by Father B.

A Cloyne spokesman said: “Training of the diocesan personnel who will fulfil the various roles outlined in the new policy document, Safeguarding Children, has taken place and will continue.”

In other developments, contact is continuing between an academic, who reported being “serially molested” by a brother in a north Cork school, and the diocese of Cloyne. The diocese has offered pastoral support and counselling to the man, who lives outside the diocese. Earlier this year, the man said he would consider legal action if the church failed to pay him e30,000 in medical expenses and apologise for the mishandling of his case.

Yesterday, he refused to give details of how this claim was progressing.

On numerous occasions over the past 20 years, the alleged victim was actively discouraged by a senior Cloyne priest, a friend of his, from making a formal complaint to gardaí, the bishop and the health authorities.

He had informed him of the alleged abuse by a teaching brother that took place at a north Cork school about 50 years ago. He has no issue with Bishop John Magee, who he fully believes was unaware of his case until last autumn.