Mags Gargan
The independent watchdog which monitors handling of abuse allegations in the Irish Church has seen its “sharpest decline” in allegations since it started keeping records.
The National Board for the Safeguarding of Children in the Catholic Church in Ireland (NBSCCCI) received 86 new allegations during the period 2016/2017. The allegations include 72 relating to sexual abuse, 10 allegations of physical and emotional abuse, one relating to boundary violation and three where the abuse was unspecified.
Most of the allegations relate to the period from the 1950s through to the 1990s.
According to the National Board’s annual report, published on Tuesday, this is the “sharpest decline” in allegations it has seen, with 153 new allegations reported last year and 265 the year before.
Trend
“The downward trend in allegations being made that we highlighted last year continues,” said CEO, Teresa Devlin. “But an examination of the trend dating back as far as 2009 when we started compiling these figures shows that we cannot assume the work is complete. Over those years there have been years where the figures rose and only constant vigilance will keep children safe.”
Following the completion of the first set of reviews of practice and extensive consultations with affected parties, the NBSCCCI created a revised set of standards along with a revised set of protocols for the next round of safeguarding reviews. The annual report emphasises two of the revised standards in particular – care for complainants and care for the respondent – which will be the primary goals for 2017/2018.
The National Board has completed reviews of 26 dioceses and 142 religious orders/congregations since 2009.