Govt faces new pressure over paedophile priests

The Government will today come under fresh pressure to establish an full statutory inquiry into sex abuse by priests in the light of new claims from alleged victims stretching back decades.

Justice Minister Michael McDowell authorised an official investigation into the issue last month - but stopped short of giving it the statutory status it needed if it was to force witnesses to attend and give evidence.

Instead, the inquiry will be made up of a three-strong independent panel headed by a former Supreme Court judge.

At the same time, the Gardai have established a special unit to investigate hundreds of allegations made against Catholic priests throughout Ireland, some dating back 40 years and longer.

But now former victims of sex abuse by church figures are intensifying their demands for a full-scale official probe.

The Survivors of Child Abuse group was spell out its concerns to Mr McDowell at a meeting later today.

A spokesman said the group wanted to discover how seriously the Government was treating the renewed controversy over sex abuse charges involving the Roman Catholic church.

It is to press for a full statutory inquiry, for the Garda Siochana, to be given the power to obtain all documents held by the church authorities, and for the victims’ legal representatives to be granted access to the papers.

Meanwhile, support groups for sex abuse victims today condemned a decision by the Court of Criminal Appeal to dismiss an appeal by the Director of Public Prosecutions against what they say was a lenient sentence imposed on a retired cleric who abused young boys in his car.

When he was convicted in March this year, 77-year-old James Kelly - also known as Brother Ambrose - was given a five-year jail term, of which four years was suspended.

The decision means that he could now be out of prison by Christmas.

Kelly had admitted two sample charges of abuse, with a further 75 offences taken into consideration.

The Right of Place support organisation said the courts were sending 'a disastrous and potentially dangerous message to paedophiles and their victims'.