Review of Safeguarding Practice in the Diocese of Ferns undertaken by The National Board for Safeguarding Children in the Catholic Church in Ireland (NBSCCCI). Report
Review of Safeguarding Practice- Follow up on Recommendations. Report.
The Ferns Inquiry (2005) was an official Irish government inquiry into the allegations of clerical sexual abuse in the Irish Catholic diocese of Ferns. The Ferns Report was released 25 on October 2005 . It identified more than 100 allegations of child sexual abuse made between 1962 and 2002 against twenty-one priests operating under the aegis of the diocese of Ferns. The Report examined the response by the Church authorities in the diocese of Ferns to allegations of child sexual abuse by priests operating under the aegis of the diocese over the forty years to 2002.
To purchase a printed copy of the Ferns Report, contact:
Government Publications
51 St. Stephen’s Green, Dublin 2
Tel. +353 1 6476000
Pastoral Letter by Bishop Éamonn Walsh, Apostolic Administrator, October, 2005
“I yet again sincerely apologize to all who have suffered in these or in any other way through the sexual abuse by a priest of the Diocese. For those who have been abused or where that abuse was compounded by the response, or lack of response by the Diocese, words of apology cannot be left unspoken.”
Royal College of Surgeons’ Report “Time to Listen”
In January 2001, the Bishops’ Committee on Child Protection commissioned an independent research study on child sexual abuse by clergy. The Health Services Research Centre at the Department of Psychology, Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland conducted the study. The study examined the psychological and social impact of child sexual abuse by Catholic clergy, the impact on faith and the experience of disclosure and how disclosure was managed by Church authorities. The book was launched on 4th December 2003
Book reference: Goode H., McGee H., O’Boyle, C. Time to Listen: Confronting Child Sexual Abuse by Catholic Clergy in Ireland. Dublin: The Liffey Press, 2003. 332 pages. ISBN 1-904148-38-7