Govt to receive clerical abuse report within days

The barrister appointed to lay the groundwork for an inquiry into clerical child sex abuse in the diocese of Ferns is expected to deliver his report to the Government within days.

Senior Counsel George Bermingham has spent the last three months examining how priests and bishops handled sex abuse complaints through the decades.

Mr Bermingham’s report is expected to recommend the establishment of a non-statutory inquiry to investigate the matter, similar to those set up following the Kilkenny incest case and the swimming abuse scandal.