IRELAND
NEWS.com.au
IRELAND’S landmark inquiry into Catholic Church child sex abuse uncovered more than 100 cases of rape and assault involving at least 21 priests in only one small county diocese.
The 2005 Ferns Report found the church, police and government failed in their duties to protect children.
It said the church hierarchy considered rape and sexual assault a moral issue rather than a criminal matter.
Only two priests were convicted over the scandal in County Wexford. A third priest charged committed suicide in the late 1990s before his case went to court.
Almost half the accused priests had died by the completion of the report, one of four major child abuse inquiries in Ireland over the past decade including the Cloyne Report, the Murphy Report and the Ryan Report.
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