Minister questioned on sex abuse inquiry

The Government is to initiate "some type of inquiry" into allegations of clerical sex abuse in the Dublin Archdiocese, the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, Mr McDowell, said in the Dáil.

The Minister also announced the appointment of a chief superintendent and additional gardaí to investigate cases of clerical sex abuse in the Dublin Archdiocese.

He said that they would undertake an "analytical overview of the type of cases in question, review particular cases with a view to seeing whether further lines of inquiry might be available which could lead to preferring criminal charges, pursue any additional evidence which becomes available and investigate fully fresh complaints which may be brought in this area".

Asked by the Labour spokesman on justice, Mr Pat Rabbitte, if the only issue arising was the form and character of any inquiry, Mr McDowell said that the Government had decided that it would have to assess carefully what steps were open to it. There were a number of possibilities, such as the model used in the Kilkenny incest case, or the Ferns model, involving any initial survey by an independent person of eminence, followed by a non-statutory inquiry.

He added that he had been examining the adequacy of the existing criminal law. "I have been looking at the legal options open to me in terms of inquiries - statutory, non-statutory, private and so on - as well as the possibility, in the wake of the Abbeylara decision, that the House may have to establish a new type of inquiry which is not an adversarial tribunal, but a private inquiry backed up by statutory powers. Those are the options I am examining, and I assure the House that I am taking time do so."

When Mr Rabbitte observed that the Minister had not said that the Government had decided that there would be an inquiry, Mr McDowell replied: "The deputy can draw his own conclusions from what I am saying. I have told the House that the Government will follow this where it lead, and some type of inquiry will form part of the Government's response. I do not want to elaborate further. I am not in a position to hand down Government policy without a Government decision having been made."

Mr McDowell said that it was not simply an issue relating to co-operation, although this weighed heavily. Another significant factor was the advice given to the Minister for Health, Mr Martin, by Mr George Birmingham SC, who had conducted the Ferns inquiry, about the attitude of victims. He said that his door was open to anybody who wanted to offer co-operation on an open-handed basis. "I will go to anybody whom I believe I should consult on an open-handed basis."

Mr Dan Boyle (Green Party, Cork South-Central) suggested that part of the public concern about the Government's response was that there appeared to be respect for the institution concerned which should not exist in the context of the vastness of the alleged crimes.

Mr McDowell replied that the Taoiseach had repeatedly stated that there was only one law in the State, to which everybody was subject.

"There is no question of confusion on this side of the House that there is any equivalence between the canon law of the Roman Catholic Church, or the law of any denomination or private organisation in education or elsewhere, and the law of our State. No contrary impression has been given by anybody associated with Government."

The Minister said that he was not fearful of the bang of a crozier from any direction. "I am acting in the prudent interests of the State and, most of all, of the victims. I will not be embarrassed, or in any way found to be wanting. I will follow this where it goes, regardless of how high or low it goes."