We are today publishing the Commission of Investigation Report into the Catholic Diocese of Cloyne.
We should be clear about one thing.
This is not a report about some terrible wrongs that were done long ago.
Instead, the report looks at how complaints of sexual abuse against children were handled in the Diocese of Cloyne from 1996 to early 2009. 1996 was chosen because that was the year in which the Catholic Church put in place detailed guidelines for how dioceses were to handle cases of the sexual abuse of children.
The report's findings could not be starker or more disturbing.
The authorities in Cloyne gave assurances that they were operating the new guidelines - guidelines designed to ensure that a culture of cover up was a thing of the past.
But they were not.
The report assigns primary responsibility for this to the Bishop of the Diocese. It also tells us that the person charged by the Diocese to investigate complaints of child sexual abuse against priests did not approve of the procedures set out in the guidelines, in particular the requirement to report cases of abuse to the civil authorities.
So the Diocese failed to report all complaints to the Gardaí. Except for one case in 1996, they did not report any complaints to the health authorities until 2008. They did not put a proper support system in place, as they were required to do by the guidelines. They did not operate an advisory panel which was independent, which they were also supposed to do. Up to 2008 they did not even properly record and maintain information about complaints of sexual abuse. And even when a report in 2004 showed that the proper procedures were not being followed, nothing changed. It is truly scandalous that people who presented a public face of concern continued to maintain a private agenda of concealment and evasion.
It would be bad enough if these failings were to be explained away by the inadequacies of the behaviour of a small number of individuals.
But the report finds that the Vatican's response to the Church guidelines was entirely unhelpful. In a letter they were described as 'merely a study document'. This, the Commission finds, gave comfort and support to those who dissented from the guidelines.
For completeness, I should say that the report finds that from 2008 the diocese started to follow the procedures.
That, of course, is welcome. But it must be cold comfort indeed for the victims of this awful abuse.
For the truth is that, even as the victims of this type of abuse in Dublin were giving their evidence with courage and dignity to the Murphy Commission, the authorities in Cloyne were still ignoring the guidelines. This, in turn, meant that the Murphy Commission had to be asked to look at what had been going on there.
Victims from Cloyne then had to tell their stories to the Murphy Commission. I want to pay tribute to Judge Murphy and her colleagues for the sensitive and painstaking way they have carried out their work. But they would be the first to recognise how hard it can be for victims to have to relive such painful memories. We all salute their bravery. And we should acknowledge too the work of all those who have supported them.
The Commission conclude that no action can totally alleviate the anger and hurt suffered by the victims. We share the Commission's hope that the publication of this report may, in some small measure, assuage the hurt and anger justifiably felt by them.
But, more than anyone else, victims are entitled to ask: how long can this go on before people do what is needed to tackle, once and for all, one of the greatest wrongs that can be done by one human being to another?
Victims are entitled to all the words of sympathy we can speak. The failings in Cloyne deserve all the words of condemnation we can muster. But there is one lesson that is clear from the report: words are not enough.
Another lesson is starkly clear too: if we continue to do the same things and expect something different to happen, we will end up with more reports like this.
Frances and I have been determined that we would not just take measures which would respond to the immediate problems identified in the report, important as such measures are. Instead, we would both work strenuously in our Departments to take measures which would once and for all bring about a system of child protection that our children need and deserve. For too long such measures have been unfulfilled empty promises repetitively given.
It is important that, in explaining these measures, we are not distracted from one central fact: the people primarily responsible for the abuse at the heart of this report were the abusers themselves - people who callously abused their positions of trust in the community to inflict unspeakable damage on children.
The Garda Commissioner has appointed Assistant Commissioner Derek Byrne to examine the report to see whether, in addition to action already taken, any further action can be taken against the abusers referred to in it.
The Gardaí are also setting up a special telephone line which victims of clerical abuse, or anyone who has information about it, can contact.
There is another criminal aspect to this that is also being pursued. Following the publication of the report into the Dublin Archdiocese Assistant Commissioner John O'Mahoney was appointed to examine it, specifically in relation to how complaints were handled and investigated by the Church and State authorities. That examination is concluding, and a number of files have been submitted to the Director of Public Prosecutions. That examination will now be extended to the report into the Cloyne Diocese.
Most regrettably, the Commission was very concerned about the approach adopted by Gardaí in a small number of cases.
In the circumstances, and following consultations with the Garda Commissioner, I am sending the report to the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission to examine it and see whether any further action is warranted.
After publication of the Dublin Archdiocese report, the Garda Inspectorate was requested to carry out a comprehensive review of Garda arrangements for dealing with allegations of child sexual abuse. While that work has been completed, I have agreed with the Chief Inspector, Kathy O'Toole that, in the coming weeks, prior to publication of their report, they will be given a chance to review their findings in the light of the Cloyne report.
For the sake of people thinking of coming forward with information, I emphasise the Commission's conclusion that the response of the Gardaí in relation to the cases covered by the report was generally adequate and appropriate and that a number of complainants were highly complimentary about the way in which the Gardaí dealt with their complaints. I have been assured by the Garda Commissioner that anyone coming forward now will be treated by the Gardaí with the same compassion and dignity that is mentioned in the report.
A central lesson we must learn from this report is that taking on trust that organisations, particularly organisations with a dismal history in this area, are living up to their responsibilities will not work. Unfortunately, despite all that has been revealed of past failures, it seems that there remain those who continue to act in bad faith, despite the creation of new structures and promise of change.
The failure to report cases of abuse in Cloyne to the Gardaí was perhaps the most appalling failure of all as it occurred after so many shocking revelations of past failures. This was done with impunity.
To deal with this issue, I am today publishing detailed legislative proposals for a Criminal Justice (Withholding Information on Crimes against Children and Vulnerable Adults) Bill. Frances will be talking shortly about making it a legal obligation to follow the State's guidance on child sexual abuse in law. But what I am proposing will, essentially, make it an offence for a person who has information that could help in the arrest, prosecution or conviction of an offender, for a serious offence committed against a child or vulnerable adult, not to pass that information on to the Gardaí, where they know that information could help. There will be a penalty of up to five years imprisonment for failing to do so. We have done substantial work urgently on this in consultation with the Attorney General and her Office, and I intend that it will be a Government legislative priority to have it enacted in the autumn. Following the enactment of this Bill, the Gardaí and the Director of Public Prosecutions will have available to them the opportunity to investigate and prosecute those who conceal and fail to report to the Gardaí sexual offences against children and there will be no legal grey areas which inhibit any such action.
If we are serious about protecting our children, we have to make sure as much as we can that those who come into contact with them do not represent a danger. For years it has been recognised that we needed a system where what is called 'soft' information can be disclosed in circumstances where this is necessary to protect
children.
I will not pretend that there are not difficult issues associated with the preparation of this Bill, but the fact there are difficult issues was no excuse for the indefensible delay in its publication. With Frances’s cooperation, I asked officials in my Department to prioritise the Bill’s preparation and, as a result, I can tell you today that this work is almost complete and that subject to Government approval very detailed heads of a National Vetting Bureau Bill will be furnished to the Attorney General and the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality by the end of this month. As the Attorney General’s Office finalises the Bill to facilitate its publication, with the target of enactment in the autumn, as part of the Government’s new approach to legislation, the Joint Oireachtas Committee will have the opportunity to consider its content and to propose any constructive amendments or additions necessary and to contribute to the process. I have worked closely with my officials in the Department of Justice and Equality in the preparation of both legislative measures announced today. I want to thank them for prioritising these essential measures.
It is difficult to read the Cloyne Report and avoid despair. It is difficult to understand the mindset of those who as recently as 2006, 2007 and 2008, despite all that has been said across two decades, were repeating the failures of the past and seemingly oblivious to the extent to which their failure placed children at continuing risk.
Many of its findings are for others to account for. But for any failings on the part of the State through the years, we express our profound sorrow.
This report is about just some of those who, as children, were abused by people they respected as arbiters of right and wrong - whose complaints were handled atrociously - and who now find that some of the promises that were made that other children would be kept safe were empty.
If I can offer them any hope it is this: the Government believes that the time for words alone and political rhetoric is long since gone. We are determined that the State, by its deeds, will live up to its obligations to keep its children safe. And we believe that the fundamental changes we are setting out today are proof of that.