Testament of failure

BISHOP John Magee last night stood accused of lying to the state over child protection procedures in the Cloyne Diocese, where he and his senior assistant failed a succession of victims of clerical sex abuse.

The damning findings of the report into the Catholic Diocese of Cloyne included the disclosure that Dr Magee was also the subject of a complaint over an alleged inappropriate incident with a teenage boy.

Both Dr Magee and his delegate, Monsignor Denis O’Callaghan, apologised to victims last night, while the Government outlined a range of new measures which will make the failure to report incidents of alleged sex abuse a crime.