Report 'must bring end' to reporting child abuse to Church
Senator Jillian van Turnhout of the Children's Rights Alliance has said the Cloyne abuse report highlights how children were "continually failed" by adults.
She issued her statement after the report into clerical child sex abuse in the Catholic diocese of Cloyne had revealed today that the handling of allegations and complaints was "inadequate and inappropriate".
Ms van Turnhout said: "The Cloyne Report brings into sharp focus the systemic disregard of children, their rights, and their inherent human dignity by Catholic Church officials in the diocese of Cloyne. The culture of inaction by the Vatican magnified the problems. Here is yet another distressing report that clearly demonstrates how children were continually failed by adults – and by adults, whose priority should have been the safeguarding of their rights and best interests.
“We must remember that this report deals with our immediate past, documenting abuses up until 2009; it shines a spotlight on the child protection processes that operate in today’s Ireland and has implications beyond Cloyne.
"The report’s finding of blatant hoodwinking of the HSE, the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs, and the National Board for Safeguarding Children must bring to an end any further reporting of allegations of child abuse to Church officials."
Ms van Turnhout said there is only one way to report child abuse concerns in this country.
She said: "Complaints must be reported to the statutory authorities of the HSE or the Gardaí, who are empowered to investigate abuse and take action to protect children and prosecute offenders.
"Today’s report once again illustrates how Ireland damaged its children. We failed to listen to children, failed to act in their best interests – ultimately, we failed to see them as human beings with rights of their own.
"Ireland ratified the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child in 1992, yet we continue to violate the rights of children at the most fundamental level by failing to protecting them from abuse. If we are serious about truly acknowledging children’s rights, then we all have a duty to make sure that their best interests are placed in the centre of all our actions."
She welcomed the joint response issued by the Minister for Justice, Alan Shatter and the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs Frances Fitzgerald this afternoon and their pledge that the Government’s “approach to protecting children will be underpinned by a Constitutional amendment on children’s rights”.
Ms van Turnhout said: "Children First Guidance will be placed on a statutory footing; and that legislation will be enacted to overcome the ‘soft information’ obstacle. If delivered, these priority actions would send a clear message that child protection is non-negotiable.
"Today is a sombre day and we offer our sympathies to the survivors of abuse and salute their courage and bravery."
