Several religious orders have been given “legal advice” to stop
participating in reviews by the Irish Catholic Church’s child abuse
watchdog, over concerns about “data protection”.
The National Board for Safeguarding Children in Ireland (NBSCCCI) believes that the law needs to be changed before religious orders can share personal data with it.
It comes after the landmark Scoping Inquiry into historical sexual abuse in religious-run schools this week found that only 13 religious orders have been the subject of reviews of their child safeguarding since 2016.
The inquiry looking at religious-run day and boarding schools in Ireland revealed almost 2,400 allegations of abuse, against 884 accused abusers, involving 42 religious orders.
The period in question ranged from the 1960s to the 1990s.
The wide-ranging 700-page report also examined the existing child safeguarding standards in the Catholic Church.
And it has emerged that only 13 reviews have been published by the NBSCCCI since its guidelines were updated in 2016.