Bishops' concern at dual system for abuse victims

Ireland's Catholic bishops have announced three initiatives centred on child protection. They have also expressed concern that a two-tier system for dealing with child abuse victims is evolving where the Government is concerned.

The Auxiliary Bishop of Dublin, Dr Eamonn Walsh, chairman of the Bishops' Commission on Child Abuse, said at their summer meeting, which ended last night, that the bishops had decided to set up a new Child Protection Office and a Bishops' Committee on Child Protection.

It has already commissioned the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland to conduct a Research Project on Child Sexual Abuse. Its findings are expected to be published in early 2003.

Speaking at a press conference in Maynooth, Bishop Walsh said the perception that the bishops had been caught "on the back foot" by the eruption of child abuse scandals was accurate. "It was as if 40 years of bad debts all came together," he said. But a belief that the bishops were "still asleep and doing nothing" was wrong. They had put in place structures "where child protection is a priority".

The new child protection officer will be Mr Paul Bailey. He takes up the post on July 2nd. He is former president of the Irish Association of Care Workers and was director of the Los Angeles Home for Homeless Boys (Dublin) and deputy director of the Oberstown Boys Centre at Lusk, Co Dublin.

The Bishops' Committee on Child Protection will be chaired by Bishop Walsh. It will review and update the bishops' 1996 report, Child Abuse: Framework for a Church Response.

The Research Project on Child Sexual Abuse was decided on because of a need for empirical evidence on effects of abuse on victims, especially where clergy were involved, Bishop Walsh said. When it made its findings, it was hoped to put in place "a pastoral structure based on reality".

Bishop Walsh also said that in discussions with the Department of Education, his committee had expressed concern that a two-tier system was evolving where victims were concerned.

The State had regulatory and supervisory responsibility for children abused in schools as well as in institutions, he pointed out, and "the same standards of redress and instruments of redress" should apply to all. On May 23rd he had written to the Taoiseach on the matter and had received "a holding letter" in reply.

He also criticised the lack of proper therapeutic care for perpetrators of such crimes against children.