11 December 2009

McGimpsey And Bishops Discuss Abuse

After the recently uncovered cases of child abuse within the Catholic Church in Dublin by the Murphy Report, a dialogue between bishops and NI-based politicians continues, writes Carla Liébana.

The Stormont Health Minister, Michael McGimpsey, said - as a response to the Roman Catholic Bishops' proposals about child protection in Northern Ireland - that it is necessary first for an "assessment of abuse" to be undertaken.

The Irish Bishops's Conference expressed their wish for the National Board for Safeguarding Children in the Catholic Church in Ireland to explore a new mechanism to ensure best practice in its current policies in relation to the safeguarding of children.

The bishops stated this evaluation could be done between the relevant government departments and statutory authorities, north and south of the Irish border.

Mr McGimpsey, who said all this must be addressed "in an open and transparent way", has been selected by the Stormont Executive to lead on all of the issues related to the previous and equally 'damning' Ryan Report, published by the Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse taking place across all of the Irish Republic.

A debate in the Assembly at the beginning of last month aimed at investigating the different forms of child abuse in Irish institutions for children.

The Minister considered these issues to "cut across the responsibilities of a number of Executive Departments and the Northern Ireland Office", of which he is waiting for a response linked with the Ryan commission report seeking their views.

He explained that officials are preparing a paper for the NI Executive setting out options for dealing with the issue of historical abuse in Northern Ireland in addition to that exposed in the Irish Republic.

Noting the overall responsibility of the government to protect children and vulnerable adults from abuse, Mr McGimpsey said: "In the interests of safeguarding children I would oppose any arrangement which protects the anonymity of child abusers and fails to result in criminal prosecutions of such individuals."

However, he stated the last decision on what approach is adopted to deal with historical abuse in NI will rest with the Stormont Executive as a whole.   

"I hope that we can achieve a consensus within the Executive on an approach which will meet the needs of victims whilst at the same time ensuring children are protected now and in the future," he concluded.  

(CL/BMcC)