IRELAND
National Board for Safeguarding Children in the Catholic Church
Annual Report 2014
Allegations Notified to the National Office – 1 April 2014 to 31 March 2015
The National Board has a responsibility to monitor safeguarding practice across all dioceses and religious orders/congregations. In addition to reviews of safeguarding practice, the Board monitors compliance with the seven standards in other ways. Most notable is the role of monitoring whether new allegations brought to the attention of a diocese or religious congregation/order have been shared with the civil authority agencies. There is an expectation that the National Office is informed at the same time as the civil authority agencies of allegations. In addition, we ask for information about the date of the abuse (if known), the status of the respondent’s ministry and what safeguarding action has been taken.
During the 2014–15 period, 184 new allegations, suspicions or concerns have been shared with the National Office. In addition, 81 allegations were submitted in one batch against 18 members of a specific congregation. The events surrounding this batch of allegations all relate to physical and/or emotional abuse. Advice received by the Church authority from TUSLA (Child and Family Agency) is that they do not require information relating to allegations against deceased priests and religious; however all allegations irrespective of the status of the accused are mandatorily reported to An Garda Síochána or the PSNI.
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