A report published today by the Catholic Church child protection watchdog discloses that it was not told until recently of over 200 new allegations of clerical child abuse received by Church authorities in the year ended March 31st.

It also disclosed that the so-called independent watchdog may not publish its findings on child protection standards in dioceses or religious congregations without permission of the relevant bishop or religious superior.



The National Board for Safeguarding Children (NBSC), set up by the Catholic Church to monitor its child protection practices, in its annual report for 2010 said there was a significant increase in the number of clerical abuse allegations reported to it in the year ended on March 31st last.



The 272 new allegations of abuse (physical, emotional or sexual) were reported to it and the statutory authorities between April 1st of last year and March 31st of this year. This is an increase of 75 on figures reported to the NBSC and statutory authorities for the previous year, when the total was 197.



The watchdog revealed that just 53 new allegations had been reported to it by Church authorities until a recent “final pro forma check in anticipation of finalising this Annual Report revealed that a total of 272 new allegations” had been received during the year.



Most of the allegations, whether for 2009 or 2010, are believed to be of an historic nature but a breakdown is not yet available.



Of the 272 new allegations, 166 allegations were received to religious congregations and 106 made to dioceses. The NBSC emphasised that it “has been advised that all of the 272 allegations have been reported to the statutory authorities.”



A total of 86 of the new allegations were made against deceased clerics or religious; 12 were made against clergy who are still in ministry, and 174 against those who had been or were removed from ministry, retired or who had left the clerical state through laicisation.



Over the year the NBSC provided training to 52 groups on various aspects of the safeguarding guidelines.



One of its priorities for 2011 will be to continue the review programme initiated by the Catholic bishops in January 2009 and following the Government’s decision to extend the remit of the Murphy Commission to include Cloyne diocese.



That in turn followed publication on the Cloyne diocesan website of a NBSC report which found child protection practices there to be “inadequate and in instances dangerous.”



The NBSC’s emphasis will be to complete the review process in the dioceses before commencing with the religious congregations and missionary societies.



Chief executive Ian Elliott also said that work on the review commissioned by the Bishops had been frustrated until March of this year by its sponsoring bodies, the Bishops, Conference of Religious of Ireland (Cori), and the Irish Missionary Union (IMU), who received legal advice they should not co-operate due to possible breaches of data protection legislation.



The sponsoring bodies still had some such concerns, he said, despite the NBSC having an “approved and top-rate data protection policy, to which it fully adheres in all its operations.” But it was now accepted that the review can go ahead in a manner which is legally possible, he said.



He said that, to date, the NBSC had concluded reviews of three unidentified dioceses. Their findings can only be published with the approval of the relevant bishops, he pointed out.



He also said that last October the NBSC had been informed by the Church sponsoring bodies that no additional money would be available for the training of volunteers in child protection.



NBSC chairman John Morgan said it was “insufficiently appreciated that the inculturation required to overcome the difficulties which have been made manifest in the Church through the inadequate safeguarding of children will, regrettably, take a considerable time.”



There were “traces, as yet perhaps dim and indistinct, that Christian consciousness in Ireland is beginning to feel the repercussions of this in a ‘collective awakening’, which seeks anew the road of true fidelity to our fundamental vocation as Christians. It will be a long road for us but Faith is the substance of hope,” he said.



Maeve Lewis of the One in Four group said this afternoon that while “Ian Elliot and his team are to be commended on their work in policy and training…they are clearly being impeded by forces within the Church in their monitoring role. This must be frustrating in the extreme, and may also endanger children.”



Abuse victim Andrew Madden expressed “considerable concern” at delays in the NBSC review of Catholic Church. It was “totally unacceptable that the National Board for Safeguarding Children in the Catholic Church cannot move any child protection concerns or findings into the public domain without the consent of Catholic Bishops,” he said.



He urged Minister for Children Frances Fitzgerald “to introduce legislation to put the Children First Guidelines on a statutory basis as a matter of absolute urgency.”



In a joint statement on publication of the NBSC report, the Catholic Bishops, Cori, and the IMU, welcomed publication of its report and thanked the NBSC for its “untiring commitment to the safety and welfare of children in the Church and for their unstinting professionalism in helping us all to meet the highest possible standards in this area.”



They were “fully committed to working with the Board” and to resolving “any remaining issues as quickly and as comprehensively as possible,” they said.