Three of the five clerics mentioned by the National Board for Safeguarding Children in its audit of child protection practices in Cork and Ross have convictions in the UK for child sexual abuse but all five have retired to or come on holidays to the diocese of Cork and Ross.
Responsibility for monitoring the five priests lies with their home dioceses in the UK. The audit was critical of church authorities in the UK for not making information on the five priests more readily available to the diocese of Cork and Ross.
However, Cork and Ross child protection officer Cleo Yates moved to offer reassurance, saying the diocese had worked to ensure they were properly supervised.
“We are not held responsible for those priests who have come back from UK dioceses – they are the responsibility of the UK dioceses. What we try and do is liaise with the relevant people in the UK to ensure they are being supervised and monitored. And if that is something we feel isn’t being done adequately, then we continue to write and liaise with those dioceses – we need to ensure that they [the priests] are getting the right kind of support from their dioceses in the UK.”
Dr Buckley said the retired priests did not go to the churches where they lived, were prevented from wearing clerical garb and did not have contact with children.
Ms Yates said the local parish priests and child protection officers – there are 180 in the 68 parishes of the diocese – were also aware of the priests’ presence and records, as were gardaí and HSE childcare services.
Dr Buckley added: “We have ensured that the gardaí and the HSE are aware of these men and we have emphasised to their own authorities [in the UK] the importance of some therapy or treatment which reduces the risk of recidivism.”