(IRELAND)
Irish Catholic [Dublin, Ireland]
February 12, 2026
By Frida Hennig
After a recent meeting with Pope Leo, the CEO of support service and charity for sexual abuse survivors One in Four Ireland has called for a dialogue with the Church on how to better protect children in online spaces.
Deirdre Kenny, who has worked with the charity for nearly 20 years, recently traveled to Rome to accompany abuse survivor David Ryan in his audience with Pope Leo, and had the chance to meet the pontiff herself and speak about “building relationships with the Church communities.”
Addressing the relationship between the Church and charities like One in Four, the CEO told The Irish Catholic, “sometimes people feel that organisations like One in Four are always attacking the Church, and it’s not that. It’s more that as a society we have a responsibility to protect children, and that’s not just governments or institutions, it’s all of us.”
Ms Kenny’s conversation with Pope Leo reflected this shared responsibility, and the pontiff offered his gratitude to her and all of the One in Four staff for their work.
While she noted that “Ireland has a very robust child protection system within the Church”, Ms Kenny spoke with the Pope about how many vulnerable communities do not have the same systems in place, especially to combat the relatively new and unfamiliar threat of online content.
“Children are more vulnerable in online spaces, they are exposed to pornography and harmful content in ways that are hard to even imagine ten years ago,” said the One in Four CEO. “I would love to see an organisation like the Church supporting communities with that challenge.”
Ms Kenny expressed that the Church has a unique opportunity to make a difference, as they have a “strong following on the ground”.
“That’s where we need to protect children, not at a policy level but in real life,” she said. “It’s a conversation we’re always open to having.”
Speaking on behalf of One in Four, Ms Kenny also appealed for empathy for survivor and victim experiences, maintaining that how we respond as a society to victims coming forward and disclosing their experience of child sexual abuse is extremely important.