Dublin child abuse report delayed by months

This section is reprinted from The Tablet, February 7, 2009. Author is Paul Keenan.

Delays dogging the long-awaited report into child abuse in the Archdiocese of Dublin may mean it is not delivered to the Government until the summer, writes Paul Keenan.

The commission, under the leadership of Justice Yvonne Murphy, is charged with examining the handling of a representative sample of allegations of abuse by priests of the archdiocese since 1940, made between January 1975 and May 2004.

It is thought that the latest delay is due to the fact that inadequacies over child protection procedures in the Diocese of Cloyne were recently referred to the commission for inclusion in the report.

However, preliminary findings of the report have been circulated to several interested parties including the Archbishop of Dublin, Diarmuid Martin, and his predecessor, Cardinal Desmond Connell.  They have been accompanied by a warning that any leaks will be punished with a hefty fine and the possibility of a lengthy jail sentence.

Meanwhile, the majority of priests in the Diocese of Ferns have volunteered to be vetted by the Irish police, which will involve their background being scrutinised.