IRELAND
Irish Independent
DEARBHAIL MCDONALD – 01 FEBRUARY 2014
CHILDREN’S Minister Frances Fitzgerald may have been disappointed that the official launch of the €600m Child and Family Agency was overshadowed by the ruling from the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) in the Louise O’Keeffe case.
She should not be. The ECHR ruling, which exposed the failure of the State to protect its children from abuse in primary schools, goes to the heart of the new agency’s mission and underscores the need for a multi-agency approach to child protection.
The minister may also be dismayed by remarks from Brendan Comiskey, the former Bishop of Ferns who still – it seems – has not come to terms with his management of paedophile priests in Wexford.
Bishop Comiskey (79) claims in today’s Irish Independent that he did his best; that it wasn’t good enough and “that’s it”.
He has also warned that an “extraordinary amount” of revelations concerning child abuse in the wider Irish society are yet to be exposed.
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