Bishop of Galway
Martin Drennan has said the report into his diocese refers to three
priests against whom allegations have been made, who are still in
ministry.No priests are named in the report.
Speaking on Galway Bay FM, Bishop Drennan said the concerns expressed were not of a sufficient nature to warrant their removal from ministry.
He said the HSE and gardaí had advised the diocese that what had been done, in terms of monitoring, was sufficient.
The bishop said today's report gave an objective view of the steps that had been taken to deal with the problem of abuse.
He said it showed the Church knew where it was going, had clear policies in place and that people could "trust each other in working together in a way we couldn't for the last 20 years".
The bishop said it had taken so long for this to happen because of the learning curve involved in understanding the problem of abuse.
He said very little was known about child abuse until the late 1980s and early 1990s and that understanding perpetrators and the effects of abuse took time.
He also pointed to the work that had been done to work out policies to respond to the problem as effectively as possible.
The report encourages better records be kept for meetings, decision making, planning and other discussions.
Bishop Drennan said it was his view that such a move would be "one factor that would make for better procedures".
The bishop said he was satisfied that the report showed all cases had been dealt with promptly and fairly.
He said it was a great consolation to him that outsiders who looked at things objectively had come to the conclusion that cases had been handled properly.
The bishop said he dealt with one of the cases mentioned in the report between 1975 and 2010.
He said the Church had "lived with a lot of bad publicity" over the last 20 years, which had tested the trust of people.
Bishop Drennan said the main message from the report was that it was safe for children to participate in Church-related activities.