No public hearings are likely to be held in the State investigation into the handling of clerical child sex abuse by Catholic Church authorities in Dublin. The inquiry is expected to begin late next month.
A spokeswoman for the Commission of Investigation into Clerical Sexual Abuse in the Dublin Archdiocese said no decision had yet been made on holding any of its hearings in public, and that it was "unlikely" this would happen.
She pointed out that public hearings could only take place when this was asked for and agreed to by the commission.
Under the 2004 Act, public hearings in the Dublin investigation could be set up where requested by a witness and approved by the commission, and where the commission itself decides it is desirable to hold a hearing in public.
Chief witnesses before the investigation are expected to include a cardinal, an archbishop, five bishops and two monsignors. They are the former archbishop of Dublin, Cardinal Desmond Connell, his successor, Archbishop Diarmuid Martin, and three former auxiliary bishops of Dublin, Dr Donal Murray Bishop of Limerick, Dr Jim Moriarty, Bishop of Kildare and Leighlin, and the retired Bishop Dermot O'Mahony.
The two further bishops likely to be called as witnesses are the Bishop of Killaloe, Dr Willie Walsh, and the Bishop of Kilmore, Dr John McAreavey. Both sat on a 1992 tribunal in Dublin set up by Cardinal Connell to deal with the case of (now laicised) Fr Tony Walsh who has since served a prison term for child sex abuse. Other expected witnesses are Mgr Alex Stenson and Mgr John Dolan, both former chancellors of the Dublin archdiocese.
The commission spokeswoman told The Irish Times its investigation was still at an administrative stage, with members reading submissions received from relevant church and public authorities as well as from people who had been requested to come forward with their stories.
These latter submissions followed advertisements placed in the media last May asking people to make contact with the commission if they had complained about clerical sexual abuse, to either the church authorities or any public authorities between 1975 and 2004, or may have known of such complaints.
The commission is chaired by Circuit Court Judge Yvonne Murphy. Its other members include barrister Ita Mangan and solicitor Hugh O'Neill. Established last March, it has 18 months to file its report and will deal with Dublin clerical child sex abuse allegations that came to light in the 29-year period from January 1975 to April 2004.
Figures released by the Dublin archdiocese last March showed that 102 priests there had been accused of child sex abuse in the 66-year period between 1940 and 2006. Of that figure, 91 faced allegations of abuse, while suspicions of such abuse had been raised in a further 11 cases.
Approximately 350 victims had been identified, with indications of a possible further 40 who had yet to be identified or traced.
Included were figures for priests from religious congregations and other dioceses, 23 of whom have been accused of child sex abuse while serving in Dublin. A further four of the latter have had suspicions of such abuse raised about them.
Criminal convictions had been brought against eight priests in Dublin up to then, while 105 civil actions had been brought against 32 priests there.
