Cloyne was the only diocese “to raise a red flag” in the Health Service Executive audit, due to be published next month by Children’s Minister Barry Andrews.

Officials in Mr Andrews’ office revealed details of the audit last night after the Archbishop of Dublin and Primate of Ireland Diarmuid Martin queried why it had not been published.

Archbishop Martin threatened to install his own child protection system in the Dublin Archdiocese because of concerns that other dioceses were not adhering properly to Church procedures on the issue.

Pointedly, he said he would be in a “better position to assess the situation” if he knew the results of the audit of all dioceses carried out by the HSE in the wake of the Ferns report. “No further information has been received on the status of that audit since it was launched two years ago,” he said.

The HSE subsequently revealed it had provided a comprehensive update on the audit to the then Children’s Minister Brendan Smith on January 31 last.

“At that time, the HSE had concerns about one particular diocese, on foot of a recent complaint [Cloyne],” the HSE said. “It was stated that at that time this matter was under investigation.”

Officials in Mr Andrews’ office characterised the January update as identifying Cloyne as the only diocese “which warranted further investigation”. They said “there were no concerns” regarding other dioceses.

The HSE finished its Cloyne investigation and gave Mr Andrews its report on December 4, thereby completing the audit.

One Church source expressed bafflement last night that the Government or HSE had not stated earlier that the other dioceses were not a cause for concern.

Mr Andrews has pledged to publish the HSE report into Cloyne next month, and will announce then whether the issue will be referred to the Dublin Archdiocese Commission of Investigation. The commission can investigate any diocese.

Meanwhile, Bishop of Cloyne John Magee was under further pressure to resign last night after Archbishop Martin said Dr Magee should do “what is best for child protection”.

Responding to a separate report, carried out by the National Board for Safeguarding Children, which found children were put at risk because Bishop Magee and the Cloyne diocese seriously mishandled child sex abuse allegations.

Mr Andrews said Bishop Magee’s position would be untenable were he a lay person.

Similarly, the Government’s Special Rapporteur on Child Protection, Geoffrey Shannon, said: “My personal view on this particular matter is his position is untenable at this stage.” +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
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(Source: IE)