In what way did I fail victims, asks cleric

THE cleric condemned for his failure to implement child protection guidelines in the beleaguered Diocese of Cloyne queried how he had failed the victims when asked if he accepted he had let them down.

Quizzed during an interview on RTÉ radio on how he felt about failing the victims, Monsignor Denis O’Callaghan responded with “In what way?”

The former child protection delegate in the Cloyne Diocese was reacting to damning criticism of his performance contained in the report into the diocese. The report, published on Wednesday, follows an inquiry which began in 2009 into the manner in which the Church and state authorities dealt with complaints of abuse by clerics.