Madam - The Ferns Report findings were secured at a desperate cost. If we don't learn from them the investigation's value is eroded and the catalogue of suffering is perpetuated.
What is clear from Ferns is that the abuse of children is facilitated by a closed and secretive environment. That secrecy must be replaced by the introduction of obligatory mandatory reporting, underpinned by law. What is most disappointing about the Catholic Church's new child protection guidelines, Our Children, Our Church, is the insistence on retaining within the Church the final decision on whether or not to report alleged child abuse to the civil authorities. This is wholly at odds with the spirit of the Ferns Report and allows the church a space for discretion which is utterly unacceptable.
If we really are serious about putting children ahead of institutions, we must fully implement the State's Children First national guidelines, introduce mandatory reporting and ensure that all citizens of the State abide by it under the law. It could be argued that the Church, in developing its own guidelines that do not insist on the immediate reporting to the HSE and/or Garda Síochána of allegations of child abuse, is continuing similar practices to the ones that led to the under-reporting of allegations of child abuse for many years.
Allegations of child abuse are a very serious matter for all, particularly the child concerned. Investigating such reports is a delicate and difficult matter requiring all the experience of skilled professionals trained in this area, who must be accountable to the State and society for their actions. Unfortunately these guidelines do not offer the clarity around reporting allegations that needs to trigger any such process. - Yours, etc,
FERGUS FINLAY, Chief Executive, Barnardos, Christchurch Square, Dublin 8.
Madam, - The Catholic Church still does not "get it". It fails to understand that many no longer trust it to deal with child sexual perpetrated abuse by its clergy. The policies and procedures published this week appear to have two different processes when deciding what to do if an allegation is made to the Church. If the alleged perpetrator is a lay person you contact the Garda immediately. If the alleged perpetrator is a priest quite a different process is to take place. The Church's director of child protection would be told and then some sort of quasi-investigation would take place. This is suggested by the wording: "establish whether there are 'reasonable grounds' for concern that child abuse has occurred" this before reporting to the Garda. The person who would take the decision to report to gardaí would be the bishop or religious leader.
This is very worrying indeed. I know of no other circumstances where the organisation in which an alleged abuser works or resides is allowed to quasi-investigate any allegation of abuse. There are a number of good reasons for this. The officer may be biased as an employee of the organisation, or may be a colleague of the alleged offender. Furthermore the officer is rarely trained to conduct such an investigation without the police and may well contaminate evidence or tamper with evidence. The officer may consider the alleged offence to be "too long ago" or "without corroborating evidence" or see some other reason to let the organisation off the hook.
Thus there might be cases which in the officer's opinion does not reach the threshold of "reasonable grounds" when gardaí might have a very different view based on a skilled investigation.
The Irish people should be aware that this above strategy was adopted by the Catholic Church in England and Wales and we argued against it on grounds stated above. It testifies to the lack of willingness to let the civil authorities investigate child sexual abuse by Catholic clergy and it also testifies to the inability to "hear" survivors and the general population's concerns about honesty and transparency.
The Church is utterly committed to controlling this whole area and protecting its clergy. What we see is a policy that speaks of a Church which refuses to step aside and allow the proper investigative authorities to do their job. How this policy can be called "best practice" I cannot see. It is a retrograde step and not in keeping with the Ferns inquiry recommendations. It is as if Ferns never happened.
The Church has made a great mistake, but one which is in keeping with its continuing need to have full control and power. We could not have expected otherwise. - Yours, etc,
MARGARET KENNEDY, Minister & Clergy Sexual Abuse Survivors (UK), London E8.