Some of those identified as child abusers in the Ryan report are now living abroad but gardaí intend to pursue all perpetrators, through extradition if necessary, the Sunday Tribune has learned.A spokeswoman for the Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse said it interviewed one cleric in the US via video link and had been contacted by others in Australia in relation to clerics who'd been relocated there.
Asked how many clerics may have been moved abroad when accusations of abuse arose the past, she said: "How widespread it was is impossible to say. Many were untraceable. A lot of the religious said some of the people were untraceable."
Gardaí are using the Ryan report as a "source of intelligence" and will approach victims to give new statements which will be used to pursue criminal convictions against the religious where possible.
A garda investigation, led by assistant commissioner Derek Byrne, to review the Ryan commission's report with a team of "crime analysts" has begun.
"In many cases, the victims have passed away, as have some of the perpetrators of these crimes. But many are still alive and the gardaí will pursue these people to secure criminal convictions," said a senior garda source.
"This is not a PR exercise. We expect many of the victims will be willing to give us formal statements. This is a major investigation that will take several months."
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