Investigations into child protection practices in the
diocese of Cork and Ross, Limerick, Clonfert and Kildare, and Leighlin
will be published by the Church today.The audits are taking place as part of the Catholic Church’s child protection watchdog’s ongoing efforts to audit child protection practices in every diocese and order in the country.
In each diocese, files on all cases relating to allegations of abuse against priests incardinated in the diocese during the period Jan 1, 1975, to Aug 1, 2010, are being reviewed by the National Board for Safeguarding’s Children in the Catholic Church (NBSCCC).
A number of the completed audits have already been published by the individual dioceses but up 180 more are yet to be completed.
By the end of the process, the Church’s 26 dioceses and 186 religious and missionary orders will have been investigated.
It is believed all the audits will be completed by the end of next year. However, the NBSCCC has admitted it is "struggling" to deal with its workload.
Its annual report published earlier this summer showed there were 237 new allegations made against priests in the past 12 months. The allegations referred to 196 clerics and related to alleged incidents between Mar 31, 2001 and Apr 1, 2012. Of these, 11 are still in ministry and 57 are not. A further 66 are elderly and infirm, laicised or dismissed, and 62 are deceased.
In its report, the board said it had 156 requests for advice from the Church in dealing with allegations of abuse, up from 104 cases the previous year.