Data issues in Church abuse audit resolved

THE DATA Protection Commissioner has refuted claims by Catholic bishops that an audit of the Church’s child protection practices is being impeded by laws restricting access to sensitive personal information.

All data protection issues affecting the independent audit of the Church’s child abuse reporting obligations were resolved a year-and-a-half ago, the Data Protection Commissioner (DPC) said.

The comment came after a statement from the Irish Catholic Bishops’ Conference calling on the Government to “take the necessary measures” to deal with data protection issues so that the National Board for Safeguarding Children in the Catholic Church (NBSCCC) could fulfil its job.