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Children and Youth Affairs Minister Frances Fitzgerald TD welcomed publication today of the Summary of the Findings of the Apostolic Visitation in Ireland saying:

The lessons of the past are that we can never assume children are being protected. There must be robust safeguarding arrangements within all organisations working with children, backed up by a strong statutory requirement to report concerns. The Catholic Church must continue to discharge its safeguarding responsibilities, including through the important work of the National Board for Safeguarding Children in the Catholic Church. The Government, for its part, is determined that the law will unambiguously demand that the protection of children is the paramount concern for all organisations engaged with young people.

The Minister strongly welcomed the Vatican’s endorsement of the work being undertaken by the National Board for Safeguarding Children in the Catholic Church.

The HSE is currently finalising a report into Catholic Church child protection policies and procedures, which will be presented to Minister Fitzgerald in the coming weeks. The CEO of the NBSCCC is working closely with the HSE’s National Director for Children and Family Services on Church child protection matters.

The Minister noted the assurances of the Archbishops of the visited Archdioceses that all newly-discovered cases of abuse are promptly brought before the civil authorities. There is also an obligation under the Children First guidance to bring knowledge of previous abuse to the attention of the relevant authorities, where there has been a failure to do so in the past.