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THE NATIONAL BOARD for Safeguarding Children in the Catholic Church of Ireland (NBSCCCI) has said its reviews of four dioceses and three religious orders dealt with 378 allegations of abuse relating to 146 individuals.
Out of those cases, there have been just 12 related convictions.
The board said it could not offer any explanation as to why there was a “striking” and “marked” difference between the number of allegations and the number of convictions. It suggested that “this is not an issue that only exists within the Church but reflects a situation which is present throughout society as a whole”.
In his overview of the second tranche of reviews, CEO Ian Elliot said that as a result of past practices, there have been examples of offenders being able to continue their abuse for longer periods than they should have. He said it should be noted that clear policies now exist that place emphasis on preventative actions to ensure this does not happen again.
The numbers of allegations are significantly higher in this batch of reviews when compared to the findings from the first tranche published last November. That round of reports took in six dioceses and no religious orders.
The NBSCCCI noted that the three religious authorities reported a markedly higher experience of abuse allegations than the dioceses (Cork & Ross, Clonfert, Limerick and Kildare & Leighlin).
Altogether, the Dominican Friars, the Spiritans and the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart, received 267 allegations of abuse pertaining to 89 individuals since 1975.
The board said that although it is a “very small sample” and “may not be representative”, the higher incidence of abuse is worthy of further consideration. It said this could be of particular importance as the reviews also found “examples of significant practice deficits such as the non-reporting or delayed reporting of allegations when they emerged”.
However, Elliot said there is now a complete openness and commitment to change in each of the religious orders. All three confirmed their “sincere intention to develop and set in place the highest safeguarding practice henceforth”.
Overall, the NBSCCCI said the findings from the seven reviews were mixed “with some examples of good practice and sound development” mixed with “very poor” situations that need to be learnt from.
It said that although all allegations of abuse have now been reported to the relevant authorities, some were “very much delayed”.
Elliot also praised each of the seven church bodies for their openness and willingness to publish the reports voluntarily, even when there was poor practice highlighted.
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Life isn’t a long enough sentence for such brutality
true.
Perchance, are you Russian?
The lifestyles exposed in this heinous crime should be a wakeup call to society in general.
To allow this sick violent sub culture to continue in any community is a sure recipe for a collapse in any form of decency. Locking these criminals in jail is fine but the seed bed they grow out of is alive and thriving despite this .
Community activists and politicians should concentrate their energies is engaging with families where initial signs of engaging in professional crime is evident. Humanity is not designed to live in savagery.
Everybody deserves an opportunity to live a secure peaceful happy existence. It behoves all to try and ensure that this is given.
@John, you could be talking about criminals or politicians with that post!! Well said though.
John,
Now is the perfect time where limk is concerned, all the leaders are in jail, all that is left are headless chickens.
People who only got involved to pretend that they’re hard or to get some power.
Raise their self esteem and they are on the path to goodness. It really is not that difficult with the right task force.
We need to reintroduce capital punishment.
Otherwise human life will continue to be regarded as very cheap by the criminals who control areas of our cities.
Capital punishment doesn’t work, it’s just a crude form of revenge. What happens if new evidence emerges in a murder case which casts doubt on the conviction? What then? In cases like this, is it not better to let them sit in prison for the rest of their lives, in the certain knowledge that they have wasted their time on this planet and will now never amount to anything but a statistic?
We’ll have to leave the EU and UN then..No great loss on either.
Dundon was listening to 1999 by prince on his headphones.
I was screamin’ when I wrote this
Forgive me if it goes astray
But when I woke up this mornin’
Could of sworn it was judgment day
My face was all purple
All my people rattin’ everywhere
Tryin’ to run from the destruction
You know you wouldn’t even dare
‘Cause they say two thousand zero thirteen
Party over, oops out of time
So Limerick’s gonna party like it’s 1999
etc……….
I’d say all 3 of these “credible” witnesses would grass their mothers up if it was to their own benefit,
sure paul,
it worked, he’s off the streets.
The Ultimate Gutter Cleaner & a family that could eat their young!
Rot you piece of skum dundon
They should of hung him in limerick town and left him there for all too see
Once he’s off the scene a new bunch of thugs will take over and reign terror.
These thugs are waiting in the wings to take over and make their mark.
Interesting ?, red thumbs when you correct your grammer. Must be serially red thumbers :-)
Have another cup of coffee there will ya. It’s a bit early for all this lark.
.
“Grammar”
have your say