Wednesday, September 05, 2012

Child protection reports to be published

Seven reports reviewing child protection practices in a number of the country's Catholic dioceses and religious orders are due to be published today.

The reports follow a series of audits conducted by the National Board for Safeguarding Children in the Catholic Church, and include three religious orders for the first time.

This is the second tranche of audits or child safeguarding reviews carried out by the board.

The audits on the first six Catholic dioceses published last November dealt with 164 allegations of child abuse made against 85 priests.

At the time, the board's chief executive, Ian Elliott, said the picture being presented by those dioceses was an improving one.

The four dioceses publishing Mr Elliott's audit reports today are Cork and Ross, Limerick, Clonfert, and Kildare and Leighlin.

For the first time religious congregations have also been audited.

They are the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart, the male Dominicans and the Congregation of the Holy Spirit, known as the Spiritans.