The Roman Catholic Diocese of Cloyne is
in the republic of Ireland, and covers most of mid, east and north
Cork. Its centre is the picturesque costal town of Cobh, which used to
be known as Queenstown, from where millions emigrated around the time of
the Irish Famine.
The report (officially known as the Commission of
Investigation, Dublin Archdiocese, Catholic Diocese of Cloyne) has
examined how allegations of sexual abuse of children in the diocese were
dealt with by the Church and state.
Led by Judge Yvonne Murphy, the same commission produced a report into the Dublin diocese in November 2009.
The commission's remit was extended to include Cloyne in
January 2009 after a report by the Church's own child protection
watchdog - the National National Board of Safeguarding Children (NBSC) - was published in December 2008.
That report examined five complaints against two priests and
found that the child protection practices in the diocese under Bishop
John Magee were "inadequate and in some respects dangerous".
What can we expect?
This report will be comprehensive, including findings on 19
priests who were accused of abuse over a 13 year period from January
1996 to February 2009.
Running to around 400 pages and 26 chapters, it
covers a time when the Catholic Church in Ireland had introduced its own
child protection guidelines.
The report was completed and given to the previous government
last December, but publication has been delayed until now because of
legal concerns due to active criminal proceedings concerning one priest
mentioned in the report.
The report, therefore, will include at least one blacked-out chapter.
What is different about this report?
This is the fourth report into abuse in the Catholic Church in
Ireland, after the diocese of Ferns report in 2005, the Ryan report
detailing abuse in residential institutions in May 2009
and the Dublin
Archdiocese report in November 2009.
This report is different because of the more recent
timeframe; there were clear guidelines in place when these allegations
of abuse were being made.
We can expect the report to detail how the diocese failed
vulnerable children, how the sharing of information with the Irish
police and the health authorities was limited and done reluctantly, and
that there was no appreciation of the seriousness of the abuse
allegations.
It will also be difficult reading for the former Bishop Magee
who stood down in March 2009 after serving as bishop of Cloyne since
1987.