IRELAND
The Irish Catholic
by Greg Daly
July 14, 2016
Religious bodies should cease financial and other support for members who have been found guilty of child sexual abuse, the head of the Church’s child protection board has said.
Speaking to The Irish Catholic, Teresa Devlin, CEO of the National Board for Safeguarding Children in the Catholic Church in Ireland, said “at some stage, once you know [a priest or brother] is guilty, then you do have to cut the ties, you cannot continue to pay for someone and at some stage the State has to take over with pensions”.
Ms Devlin acknowledged that there are difficult balances to be struck in this area, but said that while it is important to be compassionate and merciful it is also important not to send the wrong message to survivors of abuse.
She cited the example of a complainant who had recently told her of an alleged abuser whose accommodation is provided for the Church, saying “nobody is paying for mine”.
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