Proposed law a clear message on abuse

Minister for Children Frances Fitzgerald announced yesterday that the Government plans to make it mandatory for everybody, including priests, to pass on details of suspected child abuse to the authorities.

Under a bill being drawn up by Justice Minister Alan Shatter, priests could be jailed for up to five years for failing to disclose information of sexual offences against children, even if this information was obtained during Confession.

There was a famous case back in 1945 when Fr W Behan, the parish priest of Ballybunion, was fined for refusing to testify in court. He claimed privilege as a priest.

There was no question of the seal of confession, but on appeal, Judge George Gavan Duffy, the President of the High Court, ruled that a priest had what he called “sacerdotal privilege”, which accorded him a legal right “to refuse in a court of law to divulge any confidential communication whatever made to him as a priest”.

Ms Fitzgerald emphasised yesterday, however, that under forthcoming child protection legislation that even the sacrament of confession will not be allowed as an exemption from reporting child abuse.

If the Government has the courage and conviction to implement such legislation, it will send out the starkest message that nobody can have any excuse for not reporting child abuse.

The legislation is to be aimed at protecting children against all forms of child abuse, including neglect by their parents.

Yesterday, the Irish Examiner reported on the case of a mother who was jailed for eight years for a horrific catalogue of abuse and neglect of her eight children.

“She was not a mother to me,” one daughter told the court.

“She was an evil bitch.”

Yet the abuse endured by those children went on for years.

People who are responsible for abusing children should be held accountable without further delay.

The time for talk is over. We must have action.

It is incongruous that, as yet, there has only been one conviction against any of the 19 priests at the centre of the Cloyne report.

This was the priest about whom Bishop John Magee wrote two conflicting reports — one to the diocesan office in Cobh stating that the suspect denied the allegation, and the other to the Congregation of the Faith in Rome stating that the suspect had admitted the abuse.

Two of the 19 priests featured in Judge Yvonne Murphy’s report have died. These were identified as Fr Drust and Fr Baird.

We owe it to our own children and every other child in the country to ensure that the perception that people can get away with such behaviour is stopped for once and for all.

Nobody, be they even parent or priest, should get away with abusing a child.