Brady: Cloyne failings 'deplorable and totally unacceptable'

Cardinal Sean Brady, the head of the Catholic Church in Ireland, has described the failings outlined in today's report into clerical abuse in Cloyne as "deplorable and totally unacceptable".

Archbishop of Cashel and Emly Dermot Clifford, the Apostolic Administrator of Cloyne, apologised.

“I am appalled by the depth of damage and suffering caused by a minority of clergy in the Diocese, as outlined in this report,” the Archbishop said.

“Great pain was also caused to the families of those abused, whose strong relationship with the Catholic Church was, in a number of cases, damaged or destroyed.”

The Archbishop said: "It appals me that, up to 2008, 13 years after these procedures were put in place, they were still not being implemented in the Diocese of Cloyne.

“It is a very sad day for all the priests and people in the Diocese of Cloyne. We sincerely hope that our responses to complaints and the ongoing efforts in safeguarding of children and vulnerable adults in the Diocese will go some of the way to atone for the grave failures of the past. Such failures must never be permitted to happen again.”

Earlier, Justice Minister Alan Shatter criticised the communications that the inquiry received from the Papal Nuncio in Dublin – the Vatican‘s Ambassador to Ireland.

He said it was a “matter of seriousness” that Rome claimed it could not help the investigation and said Minister for Foreign Affairs Eamon Gilmore would have to decide how to act on that.

Mr Shatter said it was “unfortunate and unacceptable” that the actions of the Catholic hierarchy and representative of an outside state, the Vatican, may have contributed to failures.

The minister added he wants assurances from the bishops in Ireland that guidelines to protect children are being fully complied with in every diocese.