BishopAccountability.org
Report Due Tomorrow

Donegal Democrat
November 29, 2011

http://www.donegaldemocrat.ie/news/local/report_due_tomorrow_1_3291088

Victims of sexual abuse in the Raphoe Diocese could be left "very disappointed" by the audit which is due to be released this week, a leading commentator has claimed.

Reliable sources have indicated that the Raphoe Diocesan Audit will be officially released tomorrow (Wednesday) but will not contain the level of detail on sexual abuse that some victims may be expecting.

PR consultant, Michael Keane, from Insight Consultants, has been employed to act as "Diocesan spokesman" on the matter.

He explained yesterday that the report is an audit of the church's procedures and it is not a detailed report of individual cases.

"It's not like Cloyne or the Murphy Report where there will he huge chapters on all sorts of terrible deeds done by priests. It's an audit of procedures that were in place over the years and how, obviously, there was mistakes made and to make ensure the right procedures are in place now and that children are safeguarded," Mr. Keane stated.

It is understood Mr. Keane also handled the media release of the Cloyne report.

Deputy Editor with the Irish Catholic newspaper, Michael Kelly, says he expects some victims to disappointed with the audit but it should detail the number of allegations made in the time frame being examined.

"It's simply a forensic audit, they are obviously not talking to victims, there are not making an assessment on whether they believe the allegations are true or not. They are simply going to present, in black and white from, exactly what happened when allegations were received, if there is records of that on the diocesan records. They will set out just how many allegations were received and what, if anything was done about it, if they were processed with the Civil Authorities or removing a priest from his ministry or anything like that. So I think a lot of people will be disappointed by the it," Mr. Kelly explained.

He also stressed that the Raphoe Auditor, Ian Elliot had never "over promised" anything other than the terms of reference of his audit as outlined from the beginning.


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