Clerical Watchdog:  We should have had abuse audit

A NATIONWIDE Church-commissioned audit into clerical sex abuse cases similar to one published recently in the US should have been conducted in Ireland, the head of the Child Protection Service of the Dublin Archdiocese has said.

The survey in the United States revealed that 4pc of the 100,000-plus diocesan priests who have served the American Church since 1950 have had "credible" allegations of sex abuse made against them.

It also revealed that more than 80pc of their victims were adolescent males.

Phil Garland, director of the Archdiocese's Child Protection Service, pointed out in an editorial posted yesterday on his office's website (http://cps.dublindiocese.ie), that a similar audit had been promised by the Irish bishops, but was later cancelled.

He wrote: "With hindsight, the understanding of the nature and scope of child sexual abuse within the Catholic Church might be further advanced had this audit been conducted. It is hard to quantify the exact extent of sexual abuse here without such an audit. However, I am sure that the two reports issued by the American bishops might prove to have comparable themes and findings with similar studies conducted in an Irish context."

Mr Garland told the Irish Independent that, as in America, most victims of Irish priests were young adolescent males. He also said it appeared to be the case that, again as in America, most abusers in Ireland had one or two victims, but "some have had many allegations made against them".

Commenting on the American finding that 4pc of diocesan priests have had abuse allegations made against them, he said: "Without a full-scale audit it is really impossible to say if it has been the same here, and so we can only rely on anecdotal evidence, but there is no reason to suspect it would be dramatically different in Ireland."

A similar audit to the one conducted in the United States was announced by the Irish bishops in April 2002 but was cancelled later that year following the broadcasting by RTE of 'Cardinal Secrets', a programme on clerical sex abuse in the Dublin archdiocese.

The audit of every sex abuse allegation recorded by every diocese in the country was to be carried out by retired judge Gillian Hussey. However, when Justice Minister Michael McDowell announced in the wake of the uproar caused by 'Cardinal Secrets' that a State inquiry into the Dublin Archdiocese was to be conducted, the audit was called off.

Mr Garland said the Church in America now has child protection guidelines that make it "a better place than it used to be".

He added: "Albeit incomplete, the Irish response is well under way. The Irish bishops have started the process with the appointment of Maureen Lynott to lead the development of new policies and procedures."

David Quinn
Irish Independent Religious Affairs Correspondent