Some 52 allegations were reported to gardaí, concerning the 27 friars, and two friars were convicted of offences against children.
One friar who had allegations made against him in 1990 was allowed to continue in ministry until 1995 and took part in national church initiatives aimed at improving responses to allegations of abuse.
The Review of Safeguarding Practice in the Irish Province of Dominican Friars, by The National Board for Safeguarding Children in the Catholic Church in Ireland, said 12 of the 27 friars with allegations against them were alive at the time of the review.
Four of the friars were recorded as “out of ministry, but still members of the order”, a further four had left the order and four more were either in ministry or retired.
The review raised concerns about the handling of the four men who had left the order. “The departure of the men from the order, as far as the Dominicans were concerned, was the end of the matter, when in fact the HSE should have been informed . . . particularly as some of these men have since married and have children.”
The board “did not see any evidence that appropriate risk assessments of these men have been conducted by any agency”, it said. The men’s departure was notified to the HSE by the current designated person after he reviewed files.
The Dominicans run three primary schools and one secondary school in Ireland and they have 18 communities around the country.
The review found that, since new procedures were introduced on reporting in 2010, allegations have been promptly reported to civil authorities, but there were long delays before that date.
In 2009, a number of cases were reported to gardaí “which had been on the file for some time”, the review said. “In other cases, while not reported, action was taken to remove men from ministry and professional assessments were commissioned to guide the order on the management of risk.”
The review said, on the whole, action to remove men was taken promptly when an allegation was made.
But in the case of Father X, a prolific abuser in the 1970s, a pupil was not believed, and when the friar admitted to abusing a second pupil but said he would not do it again, he was allowed to remain in ministry. He went on to abuse others and was eventually convicted and sent to jail.
The review said the order had apologised for this in 2003.
Father Y was also left in ministry after the first concerns about his potential as an abuser were raised in 1990 and it was over four years before he was removed.
It was “alarming” that Father Y took part in initiatives to improve the response made by the church to allegations of abuse until 1995.
The review praised the current leadership team.
The order had shown “a real sense” of accepting past failures and remorse.
The review also praised the way it dealt with financial contributions to the redress process “without recourse to lawyers”.
It made 16 recommendations to improve procedures.
The Dominican Order said it welcomed the review.
Provincial Fr Gregory Carroll said the order was committed to implementing the recommendations and gave an unreserved apology to victims.