The Order of Malta has commissioned a review into how the organisation handled past complaints about one of its volunteers allegedly sexually assaulting young men, before he went on to drug and molest two teenage boys.
It is understood the review is examining the first-aid organisation’s response to prior warnings about the sexual abuser, which were flagged to senior figures in the voluntary ambulance corps.
The former volunteer, 35-year-old Scott Browne, from Co Kildare, was jailed for 9½ years in 2020 for sexually abusing two 15-year-old boys in separate incidents two weeks apart, at locations in Dublin, Co Laois and the Wicklow Mountains in 2018.
The criminal trial heard how Browne had used his position as a volunteer in the Order of Malta to steal strong pain-relief medication, which he used on both occasions to render his victims unconscious in a car, before abusing them.
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The Irish Times previously established two previous complaints had been made about Browne internally in the Order of Malta. However, the man was only removed from his voluntary role after the Garda investigation was launched into the abuse of the 15-year-old boys.
The organisation, best known for providing first aid cover at events, was first made aware of serious allegations concerning Browne three years before that, internal records show.
An 18-year-old volunteer made a complaint in 2015, alleging Browne had orally raped him in a hotel room during a trip with the organisation to Lourdes.
Senior volunteers investigated the allegations at the time, but said they were not able to substantiate the claims made by the alleged victim, so no further action was taken, an earlier internal review found.
A second complaint was made about Browne in late 2017, when a teenage volunteer in the organisation reported witnessing the man allegedly drugging and then sexually assaulting another 18-year-old male volunteer, while a group were socialising in a house.
The allegation was reported to senior figures in the Order of Malta, several months before gardaí independently opened their investigation. The Garda inquiry began on foot of a report from one of the teenage boys Browne was later convicted of sexually abusing.
The fallout of the sexual abuse controversy rocked the Order of Malta after Browne and an accomplice were convicted in the courts.
The first-aid organisation has recently commissioned an independent review to assess how it handled previous complaints made about Browne and possible shortcomings in its response. It is expected that the review will be completed in the coming months.
A spokeswoman for the organisation said the review “covers our safeguarding framework, including our policies, procedures, governance structures, and their implementation over time”.
“Its purpose is to ensure our systems remain robust, coherent, and aligned with current best practice,” she said.
The statement made no mention of its scope, examining the management of prior reports about the former volunteer, who was accused of sexually assaulting young men.
The work is being undertaken by Michael Lynch, a former garda and safeguarding consultant who has been contracted by the Order of Malta to oversee reforms of its child protection policies.
Mr Lynch previously worked for Scouting Ireland and St John Ambulance, in the aftermath of historical sexual abuse scandals that gripped both of those organisations in recent years.
Order of Malta chief executive John Byrne told senior volunteers the review would be examining “certain historical safeguarding matters” in correspondence issued this September, seen by The Irish Times.
“The purpose of this review is to ensure that lessons are identified, that procedures are confirmed to be fully aligned with current best practice, and that confidence in the order’s safeguarding culture is upheld,” Mr Byrne wrote.
