Bishops launch child protection website

A website dedicated to helping victims of child abuse and supporting those who work with children will be launched today by the Child Protection Office of the Irish Bishop's Conference.

The site aims to inform victims of child abuse, and others effected by it, of the options and support available to them.

According to Mr Paul Bailey Executive Director of the Irish Bishops' Conference Child Protection Office, "the site has been specifically designed with two key target audiences in mind: those with a responsibility for child protection in the Catholic Church and secondly, the site is a service and information facility for all victims of child abuse."

Included on the site are details on how to make a complaint concerning abuse, child protection publications and contact details to church , statutory and voluntary organisations for children and adults with child protection concerns.

"This new facility will assist volunteers and priests at parish level working with children and young people.  It is our intention to maintain the site as a 'live' medium, allowing it to evolve into the future so as to reflect national and international developments in the area of child protection," Mr Bailey said.

The launch comes almost two months after the disbandment of the Catholic Church's Working Group on Child Protection, which encountered difficulty through disagreements over whether professionals or church leaders should decide how sex-abuse complaints are handled.

The working group, chaired by Ms Maureen Lynott, was set up in May 2003 by the Irish bishops, CORI and the Irish Missionary Union "to develop a comprehensive and integrated child protection policy for the Irish Catholic Church".   In a letter to the church steering group, announcing its disbandment Ms Lynott said that the group was "greatly dismayed and disappointed to have arrived at this point."

Following the news , the director of One in Four, Mr Colm O'Gorman, said: "The fact that bishops and congregation leaders appear to continue to value power, privilege and position above the safety of children is incomprehensible."

Welcoming the launch of the site, the Primate of All Ireland Archbishop Seán Brady said: "the Child Protection Office's website is a testimony to the Church's commitment to protecting children and young people in our parishes. The material available on the site will provide great support to all those, both lay and ordained, involved in ministries with children."