THE CATHOLIC Bishop of Raphoe, Dr Philip Boyce, has confirmed that his is one of the dioceses audited by the church’s child protection watchdog.
It is known that the National Board for Safeguarding Children, whose chief executive is Ian Elliot, has completed such audits in three of the 26 Catholic dioceses in Ireland and is expected to have finalised audits on three more by the end of this month. No details of any can be released without the permission of the relevant bishop.
In a letter to The Irish Timestoday, Bishop Boyce says: "I have fully co-operated with the recent audit by the Health Service Executive and the audit review by the National Board for Safeguarding Children in the Catholic Church."
He continues: “All allegations of abuse are reported to the statutory authorities. A diocesan child protection committee was set up in June 2006.”
In addition, “there are two specially trained people who, in turn, have trained church personnel, both clerics and laity, in child-protection policies and procedures. All 33 parishes have two or more child protection representatives who, in turn, train at local level all church personnel who are involved in activities with children.”
Further, “an audit of good practice is carried out in each parish every year and forwarded to the National Board for Safeguarding Children. Vetting for those who work with children has also been put in place.”
In another letter published in this newspaper today, Canon Gearóid Walsh, chairman of the Kerry diocesan safeguarding children committee, says it is “the policy of the diocese of Kerry to report all allegations to the civil authorities, an Garda Síochána and the Health Service Executive and to report all allegations annually to the National Board for Safeguarding Children in the Catholic Church.”
It is also policy “to co-operate fully in the introduction and implementation of all new policies and procedures for safeguarding children. There are 130 trained parish representatives throughout the diocese of Kerry promoting the safeguarding of children . . . The diocese of Kerry welcomes all reviews and has participated fully with the HSE audits.”
Bishop Boyce and Canon Walsh were responding to an article by Mary Raftery last Thursday.
In Brussels yesterday, the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs said the Vatican provided Irish priests “with a comfort blanket for not reporting [abuses to the Garda]” saying “they could, in good conscience, not do so”.
As regards his formal request, through papal nuncio Archbishop Giuseppe Leanza last Thursday, for an explanation from the Vatican, Eamon Gilmore said he expected a response shortly.
“I don’t think it should take too long. I’m not setting a time limit but if at some stage I feel that it is dragging, there are steps that I can take.”
Senior Vatican spokesman Fr Federico Lombardi last night said he could not predict how long it would take for the Vatican to produce a formal response.
Fr Lombardi said: “Certainly, there will be the time and the means for a formal reply. For the time being, though, we need to leave some time for evaluation to those whose role it is to formulate that reply . . . The request has been sent and sooner or later there will be a Holy See reply.”
