Order of Malta volunteers called for leaks inquiry amid abuse controversy

Senior volunteers in the Order of Malta pushed the voluntary organisation to “find out” who was leaking information to the media, amid the ongoing controversy over its handling of sexual abuse allegations.

The organisation has been under pressure over its response to previous complaints about an ambulance corps volunteer who was later convicted of sexually assaulting two teenage boys.

The controversy had been a “challenging time” for the organisation, Patrick Downes, co-chair of its executive steering group, told the annual general council of the Irish association on October 14th, 2023.

One member told the meeting they “should not have to read the Irish Times newspaper” to find out what was going on inside the organisation, according to minutes circulated to members on January 12th.

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The minutes show another member pushed the organisation to “find out” who was sharing information with the media, with Mr Downes stating the leaks “had not gone unnoticed”.

In May 2022, the organisation’s board commissioned an internal review after one of its volunteers was convicted of abusing two teenage boys. Scott Browne (33), from Co Kildare, was jailed for 9½ years for sexually abusing two 15-year-old boys in separate incidents in 2018. The criminal trial heard how Browne had molested the boys when they were incapacitated by strong pain-relief medication, which he had stolen while volunteering with the ambulance corps.

The Order of Malta had received two prior complaints about Browne allegedly sexually assaulting young men, but he was not removed as a volunteer until gardaí began investigating the abuse of the two underage teenagers.

The organisation’s chief executive, John Byrne, his predecessor Peadar Ward, and former Garda assistant commissioner Fintan Fanning were appointed to carry out the review.

FJ McCarthy, a senior American figure in the international religious order brought in to oversee the Irish organisation, disbanded its board in November 2022, following tensions with some board members over the status of the internal review.

The annual council meeting in October 2022 heard that Mr McCarthy said the “fact-finding report” would be presented to the board, as well as the order’s headquarters in Rome.

Mr McCarthy said the “report would not be sanitised” by Rome, who had “serious concerns over what has happened and they would like to see the report when finalised,” minutes stated.

In a July 26th, 2023, letter, a Tusla regional manager wrote to the Order of Malta seeking a copy of the internal review.

In an August 1st response, Mr Byrne said the organisation “did not carry out a review” into the abuse by Browne, as it had “occurred outside of any activities of the Order of Malta”.

Mr Byrne said instead the organisation had reviewed its child-protection policies, with the three-person “working group” making a number of recommendations for reforms.

The chief executive said an external child-protection expert had since been appointed, to “undertake a robust examination of the matters identified”. Minutes of the recent general council meeting show that Mary Hargaden, a former senior Tusla official, is carrying out the external review.

In an address to the council meeting, Mr McCarthy said he was “delighted to announce” his term overseeing the Irish organisation had been extended for at least another year by headquarters in Rome.

Mr McCarthy said the “organisation-wide review” of child-protection policies and procedures by Ms Hargaden was “in progress”.

The Order of Malta Ireland did not respond to requests for comment on when it expected the external review to be completed.

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