Irish government receives report on abuse in Dublin archdiocese

Archbishop Diarmuid Martin

Ireland's justice minister, Dermot Ahern, today (Tuesday) received a report from a commission investigating the way the Archdiocese of Dublin handled sex-abuse complaints.
 
The report will not be released to the public until government officials resolve questions on how to identify priests accused of abuse, because some of them are already facing trial.

Mr Ahern said that he was “anxious that the matters dealt with in the report are put into the public domain as quickly as possible.”

“Equally, I am concerned that nothing should be done which would harm the prospects of the perpetrators of these horrific acts of depravity against children being brought to the justice they deserve'” he said.

The Minister can ask the High Court to decide whether publishing findings about the men risks prejudicing criminal proceedings against them.

Minister Ahern is referring the report to the Attorney General for advice on how best to proceed. He has also forwarded a copy of the report to the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs, Barry Andrews.

Judge Yvonne Murphy's three-member Commission has been investigating a representative sample of 46 priests who have had complaints made against them over three decades since 1975.

A spokesperson for the Diocese said it had identified between 400 and 450 people that allege they were abused by one of 152 clerics since 1940.

Dublin Archbishop Diarmuid Martin has warned that the report, when it is made public, will “horrify and shock.”