IRELAND
Association of Catholic Priests
Statement from the Association of Catholic Priests (ACP) responding to the establishment of the Commission of Investigation into Mother and Baby Homes and the appointment of Yvonne Murphy
The ACP welcomes the establishment of the Commission of Investigation into Mother and Baby Homes. It is important that it be carried out competently, justly and in strict accordance with guidelines to be laid down by the government, which should reflect natural and constitutional justice.
The ACP notes the appointment of Judge Yvonne Murphy who chaired the Murphy Commission into abuse in Dublin diocese.
It is also important to note that, in view of a report commissioned by the ACP into procedural fairness in that investigation, Fergal Sweeney, an Irish barrister who worked for many years as a judge in Hong Kong, concluded that the Murphy Report contained significant deficiencies in terms of respecting the demands of natural and constitutional justice.
Last October, the ACP published Fergal Sweeney’s findings. His conclusions are on pages 37-39 of his document, which is on I this web-site.
The final point is as follows:
4.14 However, from the legal perspective it is difficult to avoid the conclusion that insofar as the Catholic clerics who were called to testify were concerned, the practices and procedures of the Murphy Commission fell far short of meeting the concerns of the Law Reform Commission
and, more importantly, of natural and Constitutional justice.
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