The National Board for Safeguarding Children (NBSC) has agreed to show Church representatives its report on child protection in the dioceses before it is published next week. Director, Ian Elliott, confirmed to The Irish Catholic that a final draft of its long-awaited annual report has been made available to the Church's liaison committee, as a courtesy, prior to publication.
The committee is made up of representatives from the Bishops' Conference and other experts.
''The draft went only to them (the liaison committee) rather than to every diocese or order. Although they can offer comment on the content, there is no requirement for the Board to try to reflect those in the final report,'' Mr Elliot said.
The independent watchdog which is funded by the Catholic Church was set up in 2006 to oversee the implementation of Our Children, Our Church policy document, following the explosive Ferns Report.
It was expected to publish an annual report, however this week's publication will be its first.
Prompted
Failures in child protection procedures in the Diocese of Cloyne prompted calls from survivor advocacy groups for the NSBC to publish its long-awaited annual report.
Following the Cloyne controversy, Cardinal Seán Brady had also called for all bishops to sign a renewed commitment to implement new safeguarding and guidance material of the NBSC.
A HSE audit carried out two years ago, which covered similar grounds to the NBSC's review, was rendered obselete by the Catholic bishop's refusal to provide information requested in section five of the audit.
After recieving legal advice, bishops unanimously decided that the sharing of ''soft information'' would leave them open to libel actions.
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(Source: IC)