Independent Review Group into Church safeguarding meets for the first time

SCOTLAND
Scottish Catholic Observer

The Independent Review Group (IRG) established as a result of the McLellan Commission Report into safeguarding within the Catholic Church in Scotland recently held a successful inaugural meeting.

May 27 saw the group meet for the first time, and saw working groups founded, which will develop and assess the future activities of the group.

An autonomous body that works separately from the Church, the IRG will look at the standards of safeguarding and do independent audits at the reccomendation of the McLellan Commission.

“This group has been set up six months ahead of schedule and the experience members bring to this vital role is considerable indeed,” said Helen Liddell (pictured above with Archbishop Tartaglia), who was appointed chair of the IRG by the Bishops’ Conference of Scotland in December last year. “I am very grateful to them for their willingness to serve.

“The IRG is committed to ensuring the safeguarding procedures in the Catholic Church in Scotland meet the highest standards and it will conduct its business with transparency, vigour and compassion,” added the former MP and Secretary of State for Scotland.

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