Legislation to protect children likely in wake of Ferns Report

The Ferns Report, published yesterday afternoon, is expected to dominate leader’s question time in the Dáil later this morning, as the Government has implied that new legislation to protect children will be introduced.

The report identified 100 complaints of clerical sexual abuse against 26 priests in the diocese of Ferns in the south-east.

It criticises the church, health services and gardaí for the way in which the complaints were not given appropriate attention by the relevant authorities.

The Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern, issued a statement last night saying he was appalled and overwhelmed by the nature and extent of the abuse.

Mr Ahern said the Government will act swiftly to ensure that all the recommendations of the report are implemented immediately.

The Tánaiste, Mary Harney, also described the report as appalling, saying it represented a watershed on which to base legislative changes.

The Minister for Children, Brian Lenihan, who presented the report to the Cabinet yesterday, paid tribute to those who gave evidence of abuse in the inquiry, describing them as very courageous people without whom the report would not have been possible.

Meanwhile, the One In Four group said the release of the report has brought huge relief to victims.

Director of the group Colm O'Gorman is calling for the Health Service Executive to be given greater powers of authority to protect children, as he said that the abuse was allowed to happen because of their lack of powers in the area.

“Essentially we failed to protect our children. Right now we are failing to protect our children and we must act on this as a matter of urgency,” he said.

The opposition has called for stringent laws to protect children.

Labour's justice spokesman, Joe Costello, said he will be proposing “something along the lines of an offence for reckless endangerment of a child and also for covering up or failing to disclose child sexual abuse”.