Oct

17

Abuse report to highlight tawdry saga of cover-ups

Filed Under Newspaper Articles on Child Abuse Archive | 4 Comments

ANALYSIS: The report about to be published into child sex abuse by Dublin priests will shine a light on how some of the country’s most senior churchmen covered up their crimes, writes MARY RAFTERY

ON THIS day, precisely seven years ago, RTÉ television broadcast Cardinal Secrets , the Prime Time investigation which uncovered widespread clerical child abuse and cover-up within the Roman Catholic archdiocese of Dublin. The government’s response was swift. Then minister for justice Michael McDowell announced its intention to establish a commission of investigation. This was to be one of the first of the so-called fast-track tribunals – a lean operation designed to complete its business rapidly.

And yet, here we are, seven years later, still awaiting its report.

However, the fault for the delay does not lie with the commission. As the initial political enthusiasm for inquiry waned, various government departments dragged their heels, and it was over three years before it was finally established in March 2006.

It has been one of the most silent of our tribunals, with all of its hearings conducted in private. It was catapulted into the public eye only once – during the attempt by Cardinal Desmond Connell, former archbishop of Dublin, to prevent its examination of almost 6,000 church documents over which he claimed privilege. He subsequently dropped his challenge in the face of the clear intention of the current archbishop, Diarmuid Martin, to co-operate fully with the commission.

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May

7

Newspaper articles on child abuse archive

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During the transition to the new-look site, the newspaper articles archive was inadvertently deleted.
However it is being restored from a backup, and those dating from May 2009 back to June 2005 have now been restored. The older newspaper articles will be restored shortly.
Apologies for any inconvenience.


NEWSPAPER ARTICLES ON CHILD ABUSE ARCHIVE

NB the links at the head of each page are no longer working as they refer to the old site. Thank you.