Cathal BarryPresident’s remarks were ‘concerning’
A leading children’s rights campaigner has called on Mary McAleese to name the senior cleric who the former President said “laughed” when she advised him to disclose details of sexual abuse in the Church here.
Mrs McAleese revealed details of the alleged incident, which she claims happened during a private meeting in Áras an Uachtaráin, during a recent speaking engagement in Australia.
Children at Risk in Ireland (CARI) CEO Mary Flaherty told The Irish Catholic it was Mrs McAleese’s responsibility to ensure that the cleric with “dangerous” attitudes towards child safeguarding was no longer in a position of responsibility in the Church.
Ms Flaherty said the former President’s remarks were “concerning”.
“It’s an extremely concerning account. She now has an obligation to ensure that the person in question, who clearly has a very dangerous attitude towards child protection, is no longer in a position of power.”
Mrs McAleese had said the cleric, whom she would not name, had come to her “looking for advice” at a time when Church authorities were under increasing pressure to investigate a range of abuse allegations.
She suggested to him that the Church should “open up the diocesan archives” and having carried out a relevant audit “tell the people of God what’s going on”. However, the cleric just “laughed” at her, she recalled.
“I said if you don’t, the State will intervene. And his last words to me, getting into the car, were ‘the State would never cross that line’. A week later, the State crossed that line,” she said.
Ms Flaherty said: “This person has clearly shown blatant disregard for the law of the land and [Mrs McAleese] now needs to reassure the public this person has been properly investigated and is no longer at large.”