Rift over ‘negative’ child protection board

A NEW rift is emerging between the Catholic Church and the group monitoring its child protection policies after Dublin’s Archbishop Diarmuid Martin attacked the independent board for being too “negative”.

It comes a week after the National Board for Safeguarding Children in the Catholic Church (NBSCCC) expressed frustration that the country’s bishops had refused to co-operate with an independent child protection audit citing concerns around data protection.

The board, headed by Ian Elliott, also criticised the fact that while all abuse allegations are now reported to gardaí, less than 25% of such allegations were initially reported to the board. It was only when Mr Elliott sought to double check figures prior to publication of his annual report that he was given the remaining 75% of complaints.