NORTHERN IRELAND
Irish Times
Patsy McGarry
Sat, Mar 8, 2014
Ian Elliott, who retired as chief executive of the Catholic Church’s National Board for Safeguarding Children (NBSC) last July, has challenged findings of a child protection audit in Down and Connor diocese and is considering a legal action against its bishop.
Published on December 10th, the audit found that the diocese had produced an “excellent result” in fully meeting 46 of the 48 criteria for protecting children, with the two other standards partially met. The audit, attributed to the NBSC, was led by Mr Elliott over four days in the diocese last May.
However, as published, its findings “do not reflect the findings from the fieldwork,” Mr Elliott said yesterday. Such were his concerns at what he found last May that, after the first two days there, he met and reported to Bishop of Down and Connor Noel Treanor and NBSC chairman John Morgan. “I made them directly aware of the findings,” he said yesterday. “I am deeply concerned at attempts by the diocese to attribute that review [audit] to me.”
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.