A FORMER garda commissioner and other senior gardai had improper communications with an Archbishop of Dublin in relation to criminal investigations into the abuse of children.The cosy relationship between the gardai and the Catholic Church hierarchy is singled out for criticism in the long-awaited report by the inquiry into clerical sex abuse in the Dublin archdiocese, the Irish Independent has learned.
The commission limited its inquiry into how the Dublin archdiocese dealt with sex abuse to cover 1975 to 2004. However, it is believed that investigators followed open files dating back several decades.
It is understood the report makes unfavourable comments on how senior members of the gardai, including a commissioner (since deceased), had inappropriate dealings with the late Archbishop John Charles McQuaid when he headed the Dublin diocese.
The long-awaited report of the commission set up to investigate child abuse in the Dublin archdiocese will be published today by the Justice Minister Dermot Ahern and Children's Minister Barry Andrews.
Despite its criticisms, the report also praises other more junior members of the gardai who diligently investigated complaints of priests abusing children in the Dublin archdiocese.
Powerful
It is believed the report will also criticise the lack of structures within the gardai to deal with the problem at a time when the hierarchy of the Church was one of the most powerful elites in the State.
Details of the communications between the gardai and the archdiocese -- criticised by the commission -- were contained in the archdiocese's files.
The commission trawled through thousands of files over more than nine years. It found the four Archbishops of Dublin who preceded Dr Diarmuid Martin knew that priests were abusing children over a 35-year period. The commission also criticises the four archbishops' failure to report the crimes to the gardai until 1995.
Although some boys who were abused by priests were passed on to the priests' friends to be abused again, the commission did not find evidence of a paedophile ring operating in the Dublin archdiocese.
It will also say the archdiocese of Dublin knew about the grave nature of the allegations against priests before it took out insurance to cover compensation for their sexual abuse.
The commission, which was headed by High Court Judge Yvonne Murphy, is expected to thank the current Archbishop of Dublin, Dr Martin, who gave her team unrestricted access to the archdiocese's files.
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