Circuit Court judge to chair abuse commission

A Circuit Court judge will chair a commission investigating the handling of allegations of child sexual abuse against clergy in the Catholic Archdiocese of Dublin, it was confirmed tonight.

In the aftermath of the shocking Ferns Inquiry into clericalchild sex abuse, the Government nominated Judge Yvonne Murphy of the Circuit Court as chair of the commission of investigation, along with three other members.

The commission will also investigate any Catholic diocese in the State, if it is notified by Minister for Children Brian Lenihan that it may not be implementing church guidelines in relation to child sexual abuse by a priest, or that it may not be following the recommendations of the Ferns Report.

Justice Minister Michael McDowell said the commission was appointed to look at the grave situation which arose in the Dublin Archdiocese.

“Importantly, it also represents a way of underpinning the work initiated by Minister of State Lenihan in relation to the current situation in all dioceses following the Ferns Report.”

The Ferns inquiry found 21 Catholic priests had sexually assaulted young boys and girls in parishes across Co Wexford during the past 40-years.

The Archbishop of Dublin Dr Diarmuid Martin said the commission investigating how complaints of child sexual abuse against clergy of the Diocese were handled would have the full co-operation of the Dublin Diocese.

The Archbishop has revealed allegations had been made against 67 priests in his jurisdiction dating back to 1940, while only eight priests who served in the diocese have been convicted of sexual abuse.

“It is vitally important that the truth of what happened regarding abuse of children by priests is brought to light. We can only begin to fully address the issue of child abuse when we establish what happened in the past,” Dr Martin said.

In 2004, an independent child protection consultant was appointed to examine all files at the Archbishops house to ensure all complaints were identified and over 22,000 documents were made available to assist Gardaí.

Archbishop Martin said he wrote to all priests in the Diocese following the Ferns report to ask them to consult with laity as to how child protection structures could be improved.

Under the terms of reference, the Commission of Investigation will select a representative sample of complaints or allegations of child sexual abuse made in the period January 1, 1975 to May 1, 2004 against clergy in the diocese.

Mr McDowell said: “It is not a case of doing some kind of lottery on the blind, the commission is required to ensure the sample it selects is representative of the issues that arise for examination.”

Complaints or allegations made in the time period will be examined, as will the nature of any response.

The commission will be required to examine any Catholic diocese in the State, if the Minister for Children Brian Lenihan notifies them that it may not have established the structures set up in a 1996 framework for Church response to child sexual abuse by priests.

It will be working to establish the response of the Archdiocese and other Church, public and State authorities to those sample cases.

Mr Lenihan said: “I am given full power to notify certain matters to the commission, if they require notification so that red flag provision if you like is very valuable in backing up the work of the Health Services Executive in this area.”

Mr McDowell said it would be immensely costly to establish a series of commissions to work in parallel in each diocese around the country.

The minister said: “The name of the game and the process is not to uncover in minute detail every case of alleged sexual abuse, as was done in Ferns, right across Ireland. That is not the process which the Government envisages, for the very simple reason that would be a colossal task, it would require numerous inquiries.”

He added: “We don’t propose simply to unleash a grand inquisition right across Ireland into every allegation of child sexual abuse by every Catholic clergyman.”

A draft Government order establishing the commission will be laid before the Dáil and Seanad shortly. Following their approval, the Government will make the order establishing the commission and it will work for 18-months after that date.

Mr McDowell said the 18-month timescale was a balance between having a reasonable period of time in carrying out the work and reflecting the urgency of the matter.

The group, One in Four, which was set up to represent the victims of child abuse, welcomed the announcement of a Commission of Investigation into the Archdiocese of Dublin.

“This investigation, first promised by Government in October 2002, must now commence as soon as practically possible. The events into which it will inquire are not simply historic events,” the group said.

“Understanding the nature of the clearly deficient responses of both Catholic Church and State agencies to complaints, concerns or allegations of abuse is also essential if we are to remedy the shortcomings in both legislation and policy that allowed such abuse to happen in the first instance.”