IRELAND
Irish Times
Barry Roche
Mon, May 12, 2014
A special policy to facilitate whistleblowers concerned about possible clerical child sexual abuse should be established by the Diocese of Cloyne as part of its protocols to safeguarding children, a new report has recommended.
The review by the National Board for Safeguarding Children in the Catholic Church in Ireland was generally very positive about the progress made in the diocese in its implementation of child protection policy since its last review was published in 2008.
On that occasion, the board was highly critical of child protection practices in the diocese and in particularly how the then Bishop, Dr John Magee, handled a number of complaints against a small number of priests in ministry in the diocese which covers much of east, mid and north Cork.
The latest review found Cloyne fully met 41 of 48 criteria it used to examine practices and partially met the remaining seven and it published a series of recommendations to address these including one relating to the development of a policy for whistleblowers concerned about possible abuse.
The board recommended that “a specific whistle blowing policy is included in (the diocese’s document) ‘Safeguarding Children and Vulnerable Persons in the Diocese of Cloyne’ to include the procedures a member of the Church can use to express concern about a child”.
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.