A meeting between Catholic Church representatives and members of its former working group on child protection policy took place yesterday. The group, chaired by management consultant Ms Maureen Lynott, dissolved itself on September 16th following fundamental disagreement with the church representatives.
A statement from the Catholic Communications Office last night described the meeting as "constructive". It was reiterated that there is a large measure of agreement on the issues involved. Options on the way forward will now be considered by the full steering committee of the church's three sponsoring bodies, the Irish Bishops Conference, CORI, and the Irish Missionary Union. It was agreed both parties would meet again in early November.
Church representatives at yesterday's meeting were Bishop Colm O'Reilly, representing the bishops, Sister Helena O'Donoghue, representing CORI, and Father Tommy Murphy of the Irish Missionary Union. Ms Lynott was accompanied by Mr Ger Crowley and Mr Kevin McCoy, both of whom were also on the dissolved working group.
