CHILDREN'S Minister Barry Andrews has warned the Catholic Church he would consider "all options" if it failed to share information on clerical sex abuse allegations within three weeks.He also kept pressure on Bishop of Cloyne John Magee, who he said had failed to observe both Church and State guidelines on the handling of such allegations in his diocese.
"It remains my position that he does have to reflect on the very serious consequences of failures that have patently taken place in his diocese," he said.
The Government has decided to refer Bishop Magee's Diocese of Cloyne to the Dublin Commission of Investigation to examine its policies on child protection.
It also wants the Catholic Church to agree to make full information on allegations of clerical sexual abuse available to both its own National Board for Safeguarding Children and to the HSE -- the leading child protection service in the state.
"I'm pretty confident that we will achieve a good agreement. But if we don't get that agreement, we will go back to Cabinet and consider our options," Mr Andrews said.
Confidential
The Catholic bishops failed to provide the HSE's national audit of their child protection policies with information on the number of complaints of clerical sex abuse, the number of convictions, and the number of allegations not reported to the civil authorities. The bishops said this was due to "insurmountable legal difficulties" in relation to the sharing of such confidential information.
Mr Andrews also raised new questions about the ability of the HSE in the area by his decision to refer the Diocese of Cloyne to the Dublin Commission of Investigation -- contrary to the official HSE report's recommendation. He said the contents of the Catholic Church's own report into the diocese were so worrying that he felt a compelling case had been made to do so. But he insisted he still had "absolute faith" in the HSE's child protection capability.
"If I had no confidence in the HSE, I wouldn't be insisting they would have a central role in reviewing child protection practice in the Church," he said.
Mr Andrews promised to bring forward long-awaited legislation to allow the Church and other bodies to pass on "soft information" about sexual abuse (such as allegations which did not result in prosecutions) to the gardai and HSE.
He said he was encouraged by the recent decision of Archbishop of Dublin Dr Diarmuid Martin to give information freely to the Dublin Commission of Inquiry and hoped this attitude would "trickle down" to other dioceses.
Mr Andrews also pointed out that 2pc of members of the clergy had been accused of sexual abuse and that the Catholic Church had taken "positive steps" to put robust child protection policies in place.
Although Mr Andrews said that calls for Bishop Magee's resignation were a matter for him personally and the Church, he said it would be "helpful" for the diocese to restore trust and restore faith in that area.
Mr Andrews said he had not considered referring Bishop Magee to the Director of Public Prosecutions for the offence of causing "reckless endangerment" by withholding information.
He also said he would not take the "nuclear option" of withdrawing patronage of schools in the Cloyne diocese from Bishop Magee.
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(Source: II)