‘Significant shortcomings’ in Order of Malta response to sexual abuse claim, report finds

There were “significant shortcomings” in how the Order of Malta responded to allegations a volunteer had sexually abused a teenager in the first aid organisation, which an internal review found placed others in possible danger.

An independent report by a safeguarding consultant, seen by The Irish Times, criticised how the organisation responded to a case where a vulnerable 18-year-old volunteer alleged he had been sexually assaulted by an older male volunteer.

The alleged assault took place during an overseas trip with the organisation to Lourdes in May 2015, and was reported to the ambulance corps by the alleged victim shortly afterwards.

The alleged perpetrator, Scott Browne (32), from Co Kildare, later went on to sexually abuse two 15-year-old boys in separate incidents in 2018.

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Browne was jailed for 9½ years in 2020 over the abuse of the underage boys, with another Kildare volunteer, Jordan Murphy (22), jailed for 5½ years this May for aiding and abetting Browne.

At the conclusion of the second court case earlier this year, the order launched a full internal investigation into the abuse and wider child protection standards.

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A previous preliminary report raised questions over how the organisation handled the first sexual assault allegation in 2015. It found while the allegation was investigated by regional officers, there had been a failure to inform senior figures in the organisation, as well as statutory authorities, which it said was a “serious omission”.

The report was carried out by safeguarding consultant Patrick Brosnan and completed in July 2021. It found there was a year-and-a-half delay in statutory authorities becoming aware of allegations against Browne, due to the “absence of a correct approach to recording, reporting and record-keeping” by the Order of Malta.

Mr Brosnan, a retired senior Health Service Executive official, said this delay “undoubtedly” had implications for other victims.

Despite the prior complaint about Browne in 2015, the report noted he was made to resign as a volunteer only after gardaí began investigating the abuse of the two underage boys in May 2018.

The report heavily criticised the fact the volunteer’s local ambulance corps unit was not informed about the allegations. “Failure to do this was a safeguarding omission that undoubtedly could have prevented other young people, both internal and external to the Order of Malta, from being placed in possible danger,” it said.

The organisation’s response “fell short of what would be expected and required in circumstances of such seriousness”, it said.

The current deputy director of the ambulance corps, David Birchall, was involved in investigating the initial alleged sexual assault at the time as a regional officer.

The report said Mr Birchall interviewed Browne but the volunteer had denied the claims. When this inquiry was unable to substantiate the allegation, no further actions were taken, according to the report. The full internal investigation, launched after court proceedings ended earlier this year, is still ongoing.

When contacted, Mr Birchall said he had not seen the independent report, so could not comment on its findings.

A spokeswoman for the Order of Malta said the organisation could not comment while the internal investigation was under way.