Since it was published on Tuesday evening the report on child sex abuse by certain priests in the Diocese of Ferns has totally dominated the news. It was known that the diocese had a particular problem and it was suspected that bishops did not act decisively to ensure that children were protected from known and suspected abusers, but the full extent of the scandal came as something of a surprise. More than 100 victims made credible allegations against 21 priests; allegations against a further five priests surfaced too late to be investigated fully. The inquiry, initiated in 2003 by the then Minister for Health Mícheál Martin and conducted by retired Supreme Court Judge Frank Murphy, covered a period of 40 years. It was presented to Cabinet on Tuesday morning and published later in the day. Prior to that, leaked reports gave some idea of the extent of the problem.
Posted by Editor at October 31, 2005 01:22 AM