Church ‘desire’ to limit child protection board

The former head of the Catholic Church’s child protection watchdog fears a “desire” exists within the Church hierarchy to limit “by covert means” the role of the safeguarding board.

Ian Elliot stood down as chief executive of the board last year and said for the last four years his budget at the National Board for Safeguarding Children (NBSCCCI) was cut.

Writing in religious journal The Furrow, he called for an overhaul of the rules whereby the watchdog can only investigate a diocese or order by invitation, and not solely because of child protection concerns.

Mr Elliott said repeated budget cuts meant he ended up with fewer staff than some of the diocesan child protection units he was meant to oversee.

“To starve the national board of the support that it requires is running the risk of a lapse back to poor risk management or possibly worse. History has shown that the effective monitoring of practice within the Church requires independence and adequate resources,” he said.

He said he saw “no justification for it other than a desire to limit the role of the board by covert means”.

Mr Elliot, who wrote the report investigating clerical abuse in Cloyne, stressed “great progress” had been made in improving safeguarding in the Church.

However, he said the board “is forced to work on a consent basis alone. If it is not invited into a Church authority [diocese or religious order] it has no way of gaining entry.”

An NBSCCCI spokesman declined to comment.

A spokesman for the Catholic Church said it had “wholehearted support for the work of the NBSCCCI, the implementation of the board’s standards and guidance document at a local level, and the ongoing audit and review process of all dioceses and congregations”.