Wednesday, October 19, 2011

Delay for Raphoe sex abuse report

A REPORT into sex abuse in Co Donegal will not now be published until late November at the earliest.

The audit into child abuse into the Raphoe Diocese had been expected to be published two months ago.

However, the release of the report by Bishop of Raphoe, Dr Philip Boyce, has now been delayed for the fourth time.

It is expected that between 15 and 20 priests and a number of lay people will feature in the damning report, as well as dozens of victims from across Co Donegal.

The audit will not deal with ten suspected paedophile priests before 1975.

It is also believed that a public relations company has been brought in to handle the expected media frenzy surrounding the eventual publication of the report.

RTÉ’s Prime Time, BBC’s Spotlight, TG4, TV3 and a number of foreign television channels are compiling programmes on the audit.

It is understood that new sex abuse allegations may have contributed to the delay of the report.

The report is being compiled by the National Board for Safeguarding Children in the Catholic Church under CEO, Ian Elliott.

A spokesman for the NBSC said they could not comment on any delay with the Raphoe Audit.

"We are bound by the Freedom of Information Act not to comment on any pending report," he said.

Under strict rules the report will be edited by Bishop of Raphoe Philip Boyce and only he will decide when the audit will be released when he receives it from the NBSC.