This section is reprinted from The Irish Times, November 12, 2009. Author is Patsy McGarry, Religious Affairs Correspondent. View original link at http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2009/1112/1224258661963.html
Minister for Justice Dermot Ahern has indicated he wants to see the Dublin report into the handling of allegations of clerical child sex abuse in the archdiocese published “as quickly as possible”.
However, the Minister “obviously has to get a ruling from the High Court, which he is currently awaiting”, a spokesman for the Minister added last night.
Mr Ahern hoped this would be “soon”, the spokesman said, adding that when the court’s judgement is delivered the report would be published as quickly as possible afterwards.
In a Dáil written reply on Tuesday, in response to a parliamentary question, the Minister explained that on both occasions when he referred the Dublin report to the High Court last month he was acting on advice from the Attorney General and the Director of Public Prosecutions. He was “hopeful that the matter will be resolved shortly”.
His primary goal was “to see the perpetrators of appalling abuse face justice and due punishment, and ensure that crimes against children are prevented in the future”.
He had consistently made clear his wish “to publish the report as quickly as possible, while at the same time ensuring, in line with the legislation governing the work of the commission, that nothing would be done which might prejudice the possibility of a criminal prosecution”. It would be clear that he had “acted at all times with due expedition, and in accordance with the legal advice which I have received, to achieve this”. he said.
Meanwhile, Senator Ivana Bacik has repeated her call “for an urgent debate on the operation of Section 38 of the Commissions of Investigation Act 2004” in the context of delayed publication of the Dublin report. The Dublin inquiry was conducted under structures established by that Act.
She pointed out that the Minister for Justice had sought directions from the High Court under Section 38 of the Act. The hearing is in private, with no media present. The only persons represented are the State authorities – in this case, themselves under investigation – and any defendants in relevant criminal proceedings, ie alleged abusers.
The “unfortunate effect of Section 38 could be that reports from commissions of investigation might be neutered before they could be published”, she said.
Meanwhile, the Dublin Rape Crisis Centre (DRCC) and One in Four have called for “an immediate explanation” for ongoing delays in publication of the report.
They were particularly concerned “that key chapters of the report may not be published for years”. There was “a danger that piecemeal publication will seriously compromise the integrity of the report”, they said.
DRCC chief executive Ellen O’Malley-Dunlop said it was “totally unacceptable that victims and their families have to wait again” for publication of the report, she said. Some explanation for the continued delay “would at least be courteous, and would go some way towards alleviating the unnecessary distress that victims are having to endure as a result of being left in the dark”.
One in Four director Maeve Lewis said they were concerned that the report may be published close to Christmas “at a time when some services will not be fully operational and support will not be available to survivors”.
She said there was “intense speculation that publication of sections [of the report] concerning the way in which investigations into allegations against priests were carried out by gardaí, may be delayed indefinitely”. That, she said, would “seriously undermine the value of the report”.
It could mean the full story of how the sexual abuse of children in the archdiocese was allowed to continue would remain untold, which would have “serious implications for future child protection policy and practice”.
© The Irish Times
