Today, my colleague Minister Shatter & I, with the approval of Government, are publishing the report of the Commission of Inquiry into the Diocese of Cloyne.
I thank Judge Murphy and her team for their efforts in producing this comprehensive report. I also commend the bravery of those who came forward and told of their experiences. Whatever else is said today, let us not forget that innocent lives were changed forever due to the evils of abuse. I have no doubt that for them this publication will be a painful reminder of that hurt. The cruelty and suffering recounted in this report will pain all those who read it. I know I will not be alone as I express my sincere sympathy with those who have suffered.
As Minister for Children and Youth Affairs, this report marks the first on child protection failings which falls to me to publish. I regret it won’t be my last.
It is not the first investigation into the handling of allegations of child abuse by church authorities.
It is one of many.
Following the Ferns report in 2005 and the Dublin report in 2009, it is tempting to dismiss this as simply another report into episodes of child abuse within the Church. One may argue that the shocking truth of the evils perpetrated and covered-up has already been exposed and is in the past.
In a way that’s the most horrifying aspect of this document. This is not a catalogue of failure from a different era. This is not about an Ireland of fifty years ago.
This is about Ireland now.
Well into the new millennium, the diocese of Cloyne operated under a culture of astonishing non-compliance with child-protection practice and reporting requirements.
In the twelve years between 1996 & 2008, 9 out of 15 complaints, which should have been reported to Gardai were not reported. That’s very nearly two thirds of complaints un-reported, un-investigated and un-prosecuted.
For complaints which should have been reported to the health authorities the figures are even more stark; between 1996 and 2008 not one single complaint was reported. Not one.
As the Commission reports, "the victims were all of the opinion that in their meetings with high church officials, the sole concern was the protection of the institution not the well being of children."
And the Vatican was singularly unhelpful when it came to preventing that focus on the institution over the individual; when the Irish church sought to apply guidelines to prevent it happening again, the Vatican told its clerics that those guidelines were not what they appeared.
They were not guidelines to be followed.
They were not guidelines to protect children.
They were not guidelines to prevent atrocity.
They were a ‘study document’.
A study document.
And as the study continued so did the abuse.
We know now that up until three years the Catholic Church in the diocese of Cloyne represented a danger to children.
We cannot say with certainty that the same is not true in other diocese around the country.
More than a year ago the National Board for Safeguarding Children in The Catholic Church indicated that they would be auditing every diocese in Ireland.
Then they hit data protection ‘objections’.
On investigation the Data Protection Commissioner has confirmed that there was no data protection issue.
The church should therefore now provide;
a commitment the audits will happen.
a commitment the reports will be published.
a deadline for completion of the exercise.
I have asked Gordon Jeyes to work closely with Ian Elliott in the National Board for Safeguarding Children, so that the state can expedite this process. In addition I expect to receive the HSE’s audit of the dioceses in September.
All organisations, faith-based, statutory, sporting, educational, medical, playschools and clubs all have a responsibility to protect the children they serve. And in nearly every one of those sectors we have seen evidence of failures. We have seen evidence that where compliance with child protection guidelines is voluntary it is also often ignored.
To this end, let me declare today that the days of voluntary compliance are over when it comes to child protection.
Yesterday I received Cabinet approval for legislation to require statutory compliance for the first time with Children First as recommended by the Ryan Report. On Friday, I will publish the new Children First national guidance document, backed by an implementation plan from the HSE to ensure consistency across the country. This will lay down a robust child protection code for the State, backed up by a strong implementation and inspection framework.
There will be no a-la-carte approach to Children First.
The legislation will require all organisations and individuals working with children to share information with the statutory authorities where such information relates to child welfare or protection concerns.
Failure to comply with aspects of Children First will give rise to a range of civil and criminal sanctions including, for example,
There will be no exceptions, no exemptions.
Nobody will be above the law. No group may plead special circumstance. No organisation’s internal rules will supersede Children First.
Never again will someone be allowed to place the protection of their institution above the protection of children.
I will be overseeing an implementation framework which will set out the responsibilities of each Government Department and sector working with children. It will include strong emphasis on inspection and the need to provide demonstrable evidence that the rules are being properly implemented across all sectors.
In the case of the health sector, I propose to extend the remit of the Health Information and Quality Authority (HIQA) to include oversight of the HSE's Child Protection services, including the operation of Children First. HIQA will have standards in place by the end of the year and inspections of the HSE's child protection services will begin in early 2012.
In addition, I have asked the HSE's National Director to arrange to issue guidance to all social workers and other relevant practitioners setting out the HSE’s responsibilities in relation to child protection, to include abuse outside the family.
When it comes to child protection, and I know you will understand the need for the consistent application of Children First and the need, as the Ryan Report recommended, to put Children First on a statutory basis. Putting Children First on a statutory basis will maintain their ethos, which places the welfare of the child above all else and aims to ensure that there is a consistent inter-agency approach to childcare and child protection. These are the values underlying this new statute on child protection.
Combined with the legislative actions I am proposing today I believe my new Department will leave a lasting legacy when it comes to child protection through putting in place the laws, the practices and the mechanisms to seek that the evils highlighted in the Cloyne report are never again allowed to take root in church structures or on any other setting.
So many people care about the children for whom they are responsible. So many passionately employ best practice in child protection. Practitioners in the professional and voluntary sectors, medical professionals, Gardai, youth workers, teachers, and coaches all over Ireland want to make sure that every child they interact with is cared for, cherished, supported and protected. For those people the changes I am making will have little effect. They will just make obligatory what they already do voluntarily.
But for those who do not make child protection their prime objective, whether by omission or commission, whether out of ignorance or malice, the changes will make them culpable. These changes will finally use the state’s powers of prosecution to protect our children.
For decades we assumed that in every organisation there was a Good Samaritan who would not stand by while abuse could occur. In many cases we were right. In some we were wrong.
And where we were wrong, childhoods were destroyed.
The new legislation being brought in by this Government means that anyone who stands by, will stand trial.
And any organisation which decides that child protection guidelines are discussion documents can have the discussion in court.
Thank You.