Lack of child protection measures wrong and unfair

WHILE there was no allegation of child sexual abuse made against Fr Naal, or evidence to support such an allegation, the commission said the failure to carry out a proper inquiry was wrong from a child protection point of view.

A married couple wrote to Bishop Magee in August 2005 to express concerns about his involvement with children .

The commission said there was no record in the diocesan files of any response to their letter, and no action seemed to have been taken by the bishop.

The couple said Fr Naal did not want any adults in the sacristy; that he took children on field trips by himself; that he visited the national school three times a week; and that no other adult was allowed to go with him.

In November 2005, a parish priest of the diocese of Cloyne, who had worked with the parish priest as a curate, wrote to Bishop Magee to express concern about the behaviour of Fr Naal. His concern related to Fr Naal’s dealings with children, but there was no allegation of sexual abuse.

The parish priest considered Fr Naal had an obsessive interest in children; was giving money to altar servers; brought children from school to an isolated church to practice for various church ceremonies and then drove them home.

The parish priest told the commission he felt obliged to report the matter following the publication of the Ferns Report in October 2005. He had written three letters to Bishop Magee before the bishop assured the parish priest that the matter would be dealt with.

In September 2007, almost two years after first expressing his concern, the parish priest wrote again to the bishop, asking why he had not been interviewed by a delegate from the diocese, and warned he would take further steps to protect himself.

Bishop Magee met Fr Naal in October 2007 and, according to his note of the meeting, put the issues raised by the parish priest to him and got what he deemed to be a satisfactory answer. He noted in particular that Fr Naal said he had not driven a child in his car for the past three years.

The parish priest was unhappy with the response because he felt not all the issues he raised had been dealt with.

In October 2007, the parish priest copied all of his relevant correspondence to Ian Elliott of the National Board for Safeguarding Children.

The board said the failure to carry out a proper inquiry was wrong from a child protection point of view, and was also unfair to Fr Naal who had suspicions hanging over him for several years without resolution.