The Irish government said 'a collar will protect no criminal' in future after dozens of claims of abuse against children by members of the clergy were revealed.
A commission set up to examine 70,000 files from the diocese, found the church placed its own reputation above the protection of children in its care. The report found that instead of reporting the allegations to civic authorities, those accused of horrific crimes were systematically transferred from parish to parish to escape punishment.
This second report into child sex abuse by Catholic priests in the Irish Republic covered a 30-year period of cover-ups by the clergy. The report said further organisations other than the church also failed these children by seeing the church as 'above the law'.
Dermot Ahern, justice minister, said: 'Words cannot easily describe the depth of emotion people feel when they read this report.
'On a human level as a father and as member of this community as I read it [the report] I felt a growing feeling of revulsion.
'But the white heat of our anger should not for one minute deflect us from what needs to be done.
'We will all have to reflect that a culture of deference had the effect of placing some clergy beyond the law.
'But I want to be emphatic about one thing, it isn't now and it never has been ok for any institution to be above the law.
'There are no grounds for complacency... a collar will protect no criminal.'
In May a separate report revealed a catalogue of cruelty against children at residential homes run by Catholic religious orders. Today's report focused on 46 priests working in the Archdiocese of Dublin.
A Catholic order has since said it would supply a €161 million (£145 million) package of measures as reparation for the abuse.
A commission set up to examine 70,000 files from the diocese, found the church placed its own reputation above the protection of children in its care. The report found that instead of reporting the allegations to civic authorities, those accused of horrific crimes were systematically transferred from parish to parish to escape punishment.
This second report into child sex abuse by Catholic priests in the Irish Republic covered a 30-year period of cover-ups by the clergy. The report said further organisations other than the church also failed these children by seeing the church as 'above the law'.
Dermot Ahern, justice minister, said: 'Words cannot easily describe the depth of emotion people feel when they read this report.
'On a human level as a father and as member of this community as I read it [the report] I felt a growing feeling of revulsion.
'But the white heat of our anger should not for one minute deflect us from what needs to be done.
'We will all have to reflect that a culture of deference had the effect of placing some clergy beyond the law.
'But I want to be emphatic about one thing, it isn't now and it never has been ok for any institution to be above the law.
'There are no grounds for complacency... a collar will protect no criminal.'
In May a separate report revealed a catalogue of cruelty against children at residential homes run by Catholic religious orders. Today's report focused on 46 priests working in the Archdiocese of Dublin.
A Catholic order has since said it would supply a €161 million (£145 million) package of measures as reparation for the abuse.
No comments:
Post a Comment