IRELAND
Irish Independent
By Tom Brady Security Editor
Thursday March 22 2012
Garda handling of two separate complaints of clerical sex abuse by a priest from the Catholic diocese of Cloyne is to be investigated by an independent watchdog body.
The Garda Ombudsman Commission has decided to carry out inquiries into the behaviour of gardai dealing with the complaints.
The move follows criticism of inadequate garda action, highlighted in the Cloyne Report, published last summer by a commission led by Judge Yvonne Murphy following a two-year state-ordered probe into allegations of cover-ups in Cloyne between 1996 and 2009.
The damning report resulted in a government decision to introduce legislation which could lead to priests being jailed for up to five years if they fail to report paedophiles to gardai, even if told of the abuse in the confessional.
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