Growing clamour for abuse inquiry

There were tonight growing demands for a Garda inquiry into allegations of child sex abuse in the Dublin Archdiocese.

The calls came after Prime Time, broadcast on RTE, reported the Archdiocese was facing 450 legal actions as a result of claims of clerical sex abuse.

It detailed accounts of cases of abuse by eight priests, of which it said at least six bishops became aware.

Irish Survivors of Child Abuse, a group representing victims of clerical sexual abuse, called on the leader of the Catholic Church in Ireland, Cardinal Desmond Connell, to resign over his handling of the allegations.

Fine Gael spokesperson for justice, John Deasy, called for a Garda inquiry into the allegations, saying he was not sure how adequate the Church inquiry – headed by Judge Gillian Hussey – would be.

“How can anyone expect the public to trust an inquiry conducted by the Church, given their historical collusion in hiding and denying these crimes?” he asked.

He said the victims deserved to have their cases heard in a court of law.

“No rapist can be above the law because of their profession, faith or the code of secrecy of their organisation,” he said.

“Though these crimes were committed by the clergy, ’cannon law’ will not suffice. These crimes occurred in this State and must be investigated and prosecuted under the laws of this State.”

His calls for an independent inquiry were echoed by Labour spokesperson on justice, Pat Rabbitte, who described the disclosures regarding the extent of allegations as “truly shocking“.

He said that the Church authorities had serious questions to answer in regard to how they dealt with complaints when drawn to their attention.

“What we now know is of such seriousness that I believe it is no longer appropriate to leave the matter entirely to the Church authorities,” he said.

“Public concern requires that some wider form of inquiry is now held into the extent of the abuse and the way in which these matters were dealt with, and particularly to establish if any delay in dealing with complaints exposed children to unnecessary risk.”

He referred to the case of the Bishop of Ferns, Doctor Brendan Comiskey, who resigned earlier this year amid criticism of the way he handled allegations surrounding priests in his diocese.

He said: “When similar allegations were raised in regard to the Ferns Diocese earlier this year, the Minister for Justice announced the appointment of Mr George Birmingham to examine what sort of inquiry might be appropriate in that case.

“In the light of the new disclosures I believe that the remit of the Bermingham inquiry should now be extended to cover the Archdiocese of Dublin and that he should be asked to report back as early as possible with a recommendation as to what further form of inquiry is now appropriate.”

Dublin’s Rape Crisis Centre tonight said they had a “huge response” following last night’s programme, receiving 50 calls immediately afterwards and another 30 today.

Calling for his resignation earlier today, Irish Survivors of Child Abuse said Cardinal Connell’s position was now “untenable“.

The group said the programme proved what victims had been saying for years - that there had been collusion at the highest level in the Catholic Church in covering up abuse of children by priests.

It also called on the Justice Minister, Michael McDowell, to set up a police investigation into the allegations.

Mr McDowell said he was very disturbed at what he had heard, and that some reflection was needed before the State could give a response.

Cardinal Connell did not take part in a discussion which followed the programme, but appointed two representatives to speak on his behalf.

The Cardinal recently expressed his regret for mistakes made in dealing with the problem of sexual abuse of children by priests.

In a pastoral letter read out at masses throughout the Dublin diocese nearly two weeks ago, he asked for forgiveness, saying that “incalculable harm” had been done to those who were abused.

He said the Church had been slow to understand the depth of trauma suffered and the nature of the needs of victims, and had not always responded as quickly or appropriately as it should have done.