CHILD SEX abuse allegations have been made against nine previously
unnamed priests in Dublin’s Catholic archdiocese since the publication
of the Murphy report in November 2009, and suspicions regarding a
further two priests have been reported.
The Murphy commission
investigated the handling of clerical child sex abuse allegations by
church and State authorities, involving a sample 46 out of 102 accused
priests who came within the remit of the Murphy commission and against
whom such allegations were made between January 1st, 1975, and April
30th, 2004.
None of the nine priests now facing allegations had
previously been on the records of the archdiocese, the director of its
Child Safeguarding and Protection Service, Andrew Fagan, said.
He was speaking at Clonliffe College in Dublin, where
Archbishop Diarmuid Martin of Dublin and staff of the protection
service’s office launched the diocesan policy for child safeguarding and
protecting children.
It has been welcomed by Dublin abuse victim
Andrew Madden, who noted: “It is practice in the Dublin archdiocese to
report all child protection concerns to the HSE and An Garda Síochána.”
He said “nothing short of this standard is acceptable from any diocese
in the country”.
Mr Fagan said
that since publication of the Murphy report 50 people had come forward
with new allegations of sexual abuse against 20 priests, nine of whom
had not been accused before.
Some of the nine were out of
ministry, he said, while investigations were taking place to establish
whether allegations were sustainable in other cases.
The archdiocese
knew of 570 people abused by priests and it expected more such people
would come forward, he said.
Dr Martin said there had been an
allegation against one priest since he assumed office in 2004, and this
man was out of ministry.
But, he said “there may be others”.
He warned
against complacency on protecting children. Mr Fagan gave a similar
warning, adding: “We commit ourselves to a process of continuous
evaluation and improvement, paying close attention to feedback we
receive from those who use our service.”
Statistics provided by
the archdiocese pointed out that 2,500 volunteers in its parishes had
taken part in programmes safeguarding children, with more than 17,000
people, including priests, vetted for child protection purposes by the
Garda.
The archdiocese has paid out €13.5 million in settlements
regarding abuse, and €4.2 million in legal costs.
In total, 172 civil
actions have been taken against 44 priests of the archdiocese, with 117
concluded and 55 ongoing.
Ninety-three of the archdiocese’s priests have
faced allegations of child sex abuse going back to 1940, with
suspicions raised over a further 11.
There have also been
allegations against 60 priests from other dioceses or religious
congregations serving in Dublin, with allegations also against nine
priest members of religious congregations working temporarily in Dublin.
Suspicions have been raised over a further four priest members of religious congregations who held appointments in Dublin.
Ten
priests or former priests in Dublin have been convicted or face
conviction.
Two non-diocesan priests who served in Dublin have also been
convicted.
In total, allegations and suspicions have been raised
against 177 priests who served in Dublin over the 70 years from 1940 to
2010.
Over that period about 2,800 priests held appointments in the
archdiocese, with a “significant” number doing supply work.