A GOVERNMENT motion on the Cloyne report, to be debated in the Dáil today, “deplores the Vatican’s intervention which contributed to the undermining of the child protection frameworks and guidelines of the Irish State and the Irish bishops”.
It expresses “dismay at the disturbing findings of the report and at the inadequate and inappropriate response, particularly of the church authorities in Cloyne, to complaints and allegations of child sexual abuse.”
Separately, former professor of moral theology at Maynooth, Rev Vincent Twomey, has said talk of closing the Irish Embassy to the Holy See and expulsion of the papal nuncio was “over the top”. He said it illustrated “bad conscience” on the part of politicians where child protection was concerned.
“What are the politicians doing now, apart from ‘Piggygate’?” he asked. Expelling the papal nuncio “would make us the laughing stock of the world . . . not least when we need the calm waters of diplomacy, as Archbishop Martin said.”
Tánaiste Eamon Gilmore last night ruled out expelling the papal nuncio. A spokesman said the Government needed to ensure that diplomatic channels remained open in order to communicate its views to the Vatican and receive its response. Mr Gilmore said the Government was awaiting a formal response from the Vatican to the Cloyne report.
His spokesman said: “While a deadline for a response was not set, the Tánaiste has made it clear that if a response is not forthcoming in a reasonable time frame, it will be followed up on.”
Rev Twomey repeated his call for all Irish bishops who assumed office before May 2004, when Archbishop Diarmuid Martin became Archbishop of Dublin, to resign. “If the bishops have any love for the church would they please show it by making a sacrifice and stepping aside,” he said.
Asked if this may be unfair to some bishops, he said “the pope asked the Irish church to do penance. If the bishops resigned, that would be a real act of penance, both here and in the hereafter.”
He said he was “incandescent with rage” on reading the Cloyne report, at the inertia and the deceit. “How could we have any credibility with that going on?” He had met enough victims to know the horrendous damage abuse inflicted on them, he said.
Speaking about the seal of confession yesterday, Minister for Children Frances Fitzgerald said, “how the church deals with the laws of the State, that’s up to the church . . .” She said the confessional issue was “a bit of a distraction . . . What we saw in Cloyne was that . . . people talked about abuse in offices, in rooms of the diocese, not in confession, and they weren’t acted on.”
She also said the legislation would allow “in exceptional circumstances”, where a victim requests it, that the abuse would not be reported.
Ms Fitzgerald yesterday also laid before the Oireachtas the second progress report on the implementation of recommendations in the Ryan report on abuse in residential institutions for children. The report lists “key achievements” since the Ryan report’s publication in May 2009. These include a placement service for children. Gardaí throughout the State can now ring a single phone number to access foster care arrangements on an out-of-hours basis.
