AN INVESTIGATION into how the Department of Health and Children and the Health Service Executive handled the recent audit into child protection policies in the Catholic Church is to be carried out by Ombudsman for Children Emily Logan.
She said her office would be looking at whether there had been any "maladministration" on the part of either the HSE or the department in the handling of the audit.
Ms Logan said yesterday that legal advice given to the church and others barring the release of information about child abuse cases was now "an obstacle" to protecting children.
She was giving the department and the HSE 21 days to explain why it accepted the church's refusal to release the information, during the audit, which formed the basis of a report published this week.
The HSE had sought details on the number of complaints of clerical abuse, the number of convictions and the number of allegations not reported to the civil authorities.
However, the bishops said they could not comply because of "insurmountable legal difficulties" surrounding the release of such confidential information.
The ombudsman questioned how "every single diocese" of the church - with the exception of the Dublin archdiocese, which is co-operating with a parallel inquiry - faced with the HSE audit could have given "the same advice". This was undermining child protection laws, she said.
"It is becoming more common for us to hear this [reason] being offered. The use of legal advice is an obstacle with regard to child protection laws," she told The Irish Times.
She was now using powers offered by the Children Act 2002 to investigate whether there was any maladministration.
While the ombudsman does not have authority over the church on the issue, she said she wanted to probe "whether it was appropriate for any entity to refuse to co-operate with a statutory authority".
Section 14 of the Ombudsman for Children Act 2002 gives the ombudsman power to order anyone with information needed for her investigation to hand it over, and appear before her, if necessary.
Ms Logan's recommendations are not binding on any party, but she does have the power to make recommendations to the Oireachtas to change the law.
Minister of State for Children Barry Andrews has referred the Diocese of Cloyne, headed by Bishop John Magee, to the commission of investigation probing the Dublin archdiocese's handling of the issue over decades.
He has demanded that the church back down and give the information so far refused. If it does not, the Minister of State said he would bring the matter to the Cabinet and "consider our options".
Fine Gael TD Alan Shatter expressed concern that Ms Logan's investigation would be used "as an excuse by the Government to do nothing". He said: "A serious question arises as to whether it is in the public interest that the Ombudsman for Children reinvestigate issues on which a comprehensive report has already been published."
However, Barnados chief executive Fergus Finlay said the ombudsman's investigation was "a logical follow-on". The HSE audit had failed to "glean any real insight" into the church's performance and it failed "to appreciate the significance of misleading and untrue information supplied by the Diocese of Cloyne", he said.
