THE CATHOLIC Bishop of Raphoe, Dr Philip Boyce, has confirmed that
his is one of the dioceses audited by the church’s child protection
watchdog.
It is known that the National Board for Safeguarding
Children, whose chief executive is Ian Elliot, has completed such audits
in three of the 26 Catholic dioceses in Ireland and is expected to have
finalised audits on three more by the end of this month.
No details of
any can be released without the permission of the relevant bishop.
In a letter to
The Irish Times , Bishop Boyce says: “I have fully
co-operated with the recent audit by the Health Service Executive and
the audit review by the National Board for Safeguarding Children in the
Catholic Church.”
He continues: “All allegations of abuse are
reported to the statutory authorities. A diocesan child protection
committee was set up in June 2006.”
In addition, “there are two
specially trained people who, in turn, have trained church personnel,
both clerics and laity, in child-protection policies and procedures. All
33 parishes have two or more child protection representatives who, in
turn, train at local level all church personnel who are involved in
activities with children.”
Further, “an audit of good practice is
carried out in each parish every year and forwarded to the National
Board for Safeguarding Children. Vetting for those who work with
children has also been put in place.”
In another letter published, Canon Gearóid Walsh, chairman of the Kerry
diocesan safeguarding children committee, says it is “the policy of the
diocese of Kerry to report all allegations to the civil authorities, an
Garda Síochána and the Health Service Executive and to report all
allegations annually to the National Board for Safeguarding Children in
the Catholic Church.”
It is also policy “to co-operate fully in
the introduction and implementation of all new policies and procedures
for safeguarding children. There are 130 trained parish representatives
throughout the diocese of Kerry promoting the safeguarding of children .
. . The diocese of Kerry welcomes all reviews and has participated
fully with the HSE audits.”
Bishop Boyce and Canon Walsh were responding to an article by Mary Raftery last Thursday.
In
Brussels on Monday, the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs said
the Vatican provided Irish priests “with a comfort blanket for not
reporting [abuses to the Garda]” saying “they could, in good conscience,
not do so”.
As regards his formal request, through papal nuncio
Archbishop Giuseppe Leanza last Thursday, for an explanation from the
Vatican, Eamon Gilmore said he expected a response shortly.
“I
don’t think it should take too long. I’m not setting a time limit but if
at some stage I feel that it is dragging, there are steps that I can
take.”
Senior Vatican spokesman Fr Federico Lombardi last night
said he could not predict how long it would take for the Vatican to
produce a formal response.
Fr Lombardi said: “Certainly, there
will be the time and the means for a formal reply. For the time being,
though, we need to leave some time for evaluation to those whose role it
is to formulate that reply . . . The request has been sent and sooner
or later there will be a Holy See reply.”