The heads of 140 religious orders have refused to answer a series of questions in a HSE audit of their child protection practices due to be submitted soon to the minister for children.In a statement following their emergency meeting in Maynooth on Friday, the hierarchy expressed a newfound commitment to supplying statistics about child abuse complaints requested under Section 5 of the audit.
The bishops left that part of the questionnaire blank last year, claiming they were inhibited by law from answering the eight questions.
Children's minister Barry Andrews subsequently stated there was no legal impediment to the bishops supplying the information. It is these questions which the religious orders are now refusing to answer.
News that the audit of religious orders, conducted in parallel with the audit of dioceses, will "imminently" arrive on Andrews' desk emerged after a complainant in Cloyne queried the absence of his case from the HSE report published earlier this month.
The man claims he was sexually abused in a north Cork national school by a member of a religious order.
While the signals emanating from the Maynooth conclave were positive, some victims in Cloyne complained they should have been invited to the meeting.
"We're not files on paper. They need to see and hear us," said one.
Meanwhile, the inaugural annual report of NBSC chief executive, Ian Elliott, is expected to be published in the next week or so.
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(Source: ST)