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  Church and State Respond

Irish Emigrant [Ireland]
October 31, 2005

In promising to quickly implement the recommendations contained in the report, Taoiseach Bertie Ahern said he was "appalled and overwhelmed at the nature and extent of the abuse". He said the Government would be writing to Church authorities to ensure that systems put in place in Ferns, by Bishop Éamonn Walsh, had been implemented in all other dioceses. Mr Ahern added that clerical abuse amounted to 3% of sexual abuse cases, and that the State aimed to tackle the other 97%.

Tánaiste and Minister for Health Mary Harney described the report as "very sad, very disturbing, very depressing". Minister for Justice Michael McDowell promised to amend the current Criminal Justice Bill to include a "reckless endangerment" clause. This will be similar to a new law in Massachusetts which makes it an offence for people in authority to fail to take action when they are aware that children are in danger.

It was Minister of State for Children Brian Lenihan who had most to say. Speaking on behalf of the Government, he condemned "in the strongest possible terms the repeated failure and gross dereliction of duties of those in a position of trust in the Diocese of Ferns, who engaged in acts of child abuse or failed to take effective steps to defend and vindicate the rights of the children concerned". He too promised legislation in line with the report's recommendations. Politicians of other parties all condemned the failure to protect the children of Ferns and called for a swift Government response. At some stage it was indicated that the report was in the hands of the DPP so further prosecutions are a possibility.

At a press conference in Gorey, Co. Wexford Bishop Éamonn Walsh, offered an "unreserved" apology for the Church's failure to protect victims. He spoke of his shock at the detail in the report, saying that although he had been working on the issue for the past 3.5 years, when he "saw the whole chapter of the litany of abuse and the grossest acts on innocent young people and children", he was "numbed" and couldn't imagine "how numbed others must be who hear it for the first time".

Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of All Ireland Dr Seán Brady also apologised to the victims, adding, "The betrayal of trust is horrendous. Today the church is ashamed of its past failings regarding child protection". He welcomed the publication of the report, seeing it as playing an important role in helping those who had suffered. Archbishop of Dublin Dr Diarmuid Martin responded similarly and acknowledged that "many children would not have suffered abuse had those with knowledge acted upon it". He went on to say, "Sexual abuse by priests has devastated the lives of those abused and their families". It also, he added, damaged people's faith, not only in the church but in God, and caused great distress to other priests, "who find it hard to believe that their fellow clerics could cause so much harm".

Bishop Brendan Comiskey was criticised for failing to make himself available to the media. He did issue a statement acknowledging his failings and apologising. His failings, he said, "were not deliberate but rather human failings".

Organisations dealing with sex abuse victims say there has been a significant increase in people contacting them following the publication of the report. These organisations had also welcomed the publication of the report, urging the government to quickly implement the report's recommendations and calling for inquiries in other dioceses.

 
 

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