RELAND
Irish Independent
SHANE PHELAN PUBLIC AFFAIRS EDITOR – 16 FEBRUARY 2014
THE National Board for Safeguarding Children in the Catholic Church was set up by church authorities in 2007 as a response to the clerical sex abuse scandals.
Its aim is to offer advice on best practice in safeguarding children to Catholic organisations, assist in the developing of procedures, and to monitor ongoing safeguarding practices.
Funding for the board is provided by three major religious organisations: the Irish Bishops’ Conference; the Conference of Religious in Ireland and the Irish Missionary Union.
Although funded by these bodies, the board was set up to be independent and has a memorandum of understanding with all Church bodies “to enable the unfettered delivery of its functions”.
For its first chief executive, it chose Ian Elliott, the former lead adviser on child protection at the North’s Social Services Inspectorate and a former divisional director of the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children. A key part of the board’s work has been entering Catholic dioceses and organisations and conducting audits. This included examining how diocesan authorities responded to abuse allegations and safeguarded children in the past, as well as assessing what improvements needed to be made for the future.
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