BACKGROUND: THE DECISION to extend the remit of a
State inquiry into clerical child sexual abuse to include the Diocese of
Cloyne in January 2009 by the then minister for children Barry Andrews
followed the publication of a church report critical of practices in the
Co Cork diocese.
The report, by the National Board for
Safeguarding Children in the Catholic Church (NBSC), was highly critical
of the way in which the Diocese of Cloyne and Bishop John Magee had
handled a series of complaints made by five people against two priests.
NBSC
chief executive Ian Elliott said child protection practices in the
rural diocese were “significantly deficient in a number of respects”.
Following
publication of the report by the Diocese of Cloyne on December 19th,
2008, Mr Andrews in January 2009 instructed the Commission of
Investigation (Child Sexual Abuse) into the Archdiocese of Dublin to
extend its remit to include the Diocese of Cloyne.
Formally
established on March 24th, 2009, the commission of investigation under
the chairmanship of Judge Yvonne Murphy began examining complaints of
clerical abuse made between January 1st, 1996, and February 1st, 2009,
against priests of the Diocese of Cloyne.
The report examines
complaints against 19 priests, some of whom are deceased. Each priest
complained of was given a pseudonym and dealt with in a separate
chapter.
In total, the investigation team interviewed more than
100 people, including complainants, priests, gardaí, social workers and
senior figures in the diocese, including Bishop Magee (74).
The final report was handed over to the Minister for Justice on December 23rd, 2010.
Earlier
on March 7th, 2009, Bishop John Magee issued a statement read at Mass
at St Colman’s cathedral in Cobh in which he announced he was stepping
down from administrative duties in the diocese to allow him assist the
Commission of Investigation team in its inquiries.
Just over a
year later, on March 24th, 2010, Bishop Magee announced that he had
tendered his resignation as bishop to Pope Benedict XVI, and it had been
accepted.
In his statement Bishop Magee apologised to anyone who
may have been abused by any priest while he was in charge of the
diocese. He said he hoped the work and findings of the commission of
investigation would help offer some healing to those who had been
abused.
Concurrent with the commission of investigation
investigation, gardaí have carried out a number of criminal
investigations into allegations of child sexual abuse by priests in
Cloyne following complaints by 10 women and one man.
A retired
priest in the diocese has been brought before the courts since 2010 and
it was in respect of that matter that Mr Justice Nichola Kearns ordered
the redaction of one chapter of the commission of investigation report
in case it might prejudice the accused’s trial.