DONEGAL has probably the worst record for clerical child sex abuse in Ireland, Bishop Philip Boyce has admitted.
The Bishop of Raphoe also revealed that 20 people working for the Catholic Church in the diocese, which covers most of the county, had still not been vetted.
A report by the Church’s own watchdog — rubbished by abuse survivors as a "whitewash" — warned that some priests had expressed reluctance to undergo Garda security clearance.
Bishop Boyce said he "didn’t think" anyone had refused and that he did not know the breakdown of priests and lay people who had so far declined to return vetting papers.
The National Board for Safeguarding Children in the Catholic Church gave little detail on 52 known allegations against suspected abusers in Donegal since 1975.
More than 20 of the complaints were against notorious paedophile priest Eugene Greene, who abused dozens of youngsters while being moved from parish to parish.
Greene was jailed for 12 years in 2000 after pleading guilty to 41 sample charges against 26 victims between 1962 and 1985. He was freed in 2008.
Asked about the prevalence of clerical child abuse cases in the diocese, Bishop Boyce accepted it was proportionately higher than many other dioceses and "probably" the worst in the country.
"I haven’t seen all the other dioceses to confirm that, but I would say it has one of the highest."
Bishop Boyce, his predecessor Seamus Hegarty, who retired as Bishop of Derry earlier this month due to ill-health, and his predecessor, Bishop Anthony McFeely were all singled out for mishandling complaints against clergy since the 1970s.
The report found a priest put in charge of investigating sex abuse complaints as recently as January 2009 admitted he was "ill at ease" with the role, as alleged abusers were often life-long friends.
Bishop Boyce, who took control of the diocese in 1995, said the priest was recently replaced by two lay people.
The guidelines on dealing with sex abuse allegations were not referenced on a regular basis in Donegal when handling complaints, the Church watchdog found.
One of the key criticisms of the report was that it relied solely on church files and none of the survivors were interviewed.
The documents showed allegations had been made against 14 priests in the diocese since 1975, all of whom are still alive. Two more priests now living in the diocese had had allegations made against them relating to their time in ministry elsewhere.
Four had been convicted and six still remained in the priesthood. There were currently around 60 priests serving in Donegal.
Bishop Boyce said all church files were handed over to the watchdog, but he insisted no child abuse allegations had come before him or his predecessors before 1998.
While there were rumours of files having been destroyed, he had no evidence of that, he said.
Bishop Boyce said the files were kept in a safe in the bishop’s office which were first shown to him by Bishop Hegarty, who he said could be trusted and was very meticulous in his dealing with sex claims against priests.
The Diocese of Raphoe is to put notices in local newspapers next week to invite other abuse survivors to come forward.
A report by the Church’s own watchdog — rubbished by abuse survivors as a "whitewash" — warned that some priests had expressed reluctance to undergo Garda security clearance.
Bishop Boyce said he "didn’t think" anyone had refused and that he did not know the breakdown of priests and lay people who had so far declined to return vetting papers.
The National Board for Safeguarding Children in the Catholic Church gave little detail on 52 known allegations against suspected abusers in Donegal since 1975.
More than 20 of the complaints were against notorious paedophile priest Eugene Greene, who abused dozens of youngsters while being moved from parish to parish.
Greene was jailed for 12 years in 2000 after pleading guilty to 41 sample charges against 26 victims between 1962 and 1985. He was freed in 2008.
Asked about the prevalence of clerical child abuse cases in the diocese, Bishop Boyce accepted it was proportionately higher than many other dioceses and "probably" the worst in the country.
"I haven’t seen all the other dioceses to confirm that, but I would say it has one of the highest."
Bishop Boyce, his predecessor Seamus Hegarty, who retired as Bishop of Derry earlier this month due to ill-health, and his predecessor, Bishop Anthony McFeely were all singled out for mishandling complaints against clergy since the 1970s.
The report found a priest put in charge of investigating sex abuse complaints as recently as January 2009 admitted he was "ill at ease" with the role, as alleged abusers were often life-long friends.
Bishop Boyce, who took control of the diocese in 1995, said the priest was recently replaced by two lay people.
The guidelines on dealing with sex abuse allegations were not referenced on a regular basis in Donegal when handling complaints, the Church watchdog found.
One of the key criticisms of the report was that it relied solely on church files and none of the survivors were interviewed.
The documents showed allegations had been made against 14 priests in the diocese since 1975, all of whom are still alive. Two more priests now living in the diocese had had allegations made against them relating to their time in ministry elsewhere.
Four had been convicted and six still remained in the priesthood. There were currently around 60 priests serving in Donegal.
Bishop Boyce said all church files were handed over to the watchdog, but he insisted no child abuse allegations had come before him or his predecessors before 1998.
While there were rumours of files having been destroyed, he had no evidence of that, he said.
Bishop Boyce said the files were kept in a safe in the bishop’s office which were first shown to him by Bishop Hegarty, who he said could be trusted and was very meticulous in his dealing with sex claims against priests.
The Diocese of Raphoe is to put notices in local newspapers next week to invite other abuse survivors to come forward.