DATA PROTECTION issues, which have prevented the Catholic hierarchy from co-operating with the church’s own child protection review, were “not fabricated to prevent progress”, bishops said yesterday.
The Irish Bishops Conference said in its annual report that it shared the “frustration” expressed by the church’s child protection board.
Last month the National Board for Safeguarding Children in the Catholic Church said that until recently it was prevented from undertaking the child protection review requested by legal concerns on the part of church authorities.
The Irish Bishops Conference accepted that the progress in the child protection review was “slower than hoped for”, it said in a statement released following its June meeting yesterday.
“Data protection difficulties are real, they were not fabricated or invented to prevent progress,” the statement said.
Lawyers acting for the board had “alerted the board to the likelihood that data protection law could pose difficulties”, the statement said. Three years later the board engaged with the data commissioner to deal with these issues, it added.
