Commission ‘unfair to priests’

A review of a major inquiry into clerical sexual abuse in Dublin has accused it of treating priests unfairly.

The Association of Catholic Priests (ACP) commissioned barrister and former Hong Kong judge Fergal Sweeney to examine the Murphy commission, which investigated the handling of allegations of clerical sexual abuse in the Archdiocese of Dublin.

Mr Sweeney’s review accuses the three-member panel of the commission, who produced the 2009 Murphy report, of not being even-handed in its treatment of priests. It also claims that it lacked fair procedures and exceeded its terms of reference.

Fr Sean McDonagh of the ACP said the review was not about “trying to minimise the enormous damage that was done to the children”. He said the ACP wanted to highlight that there is no provision under the terms of the 2004 Commissions of Investigation Act to allow a person, whose reputation is at stake, to call a witness and bring in counsel to help them challenge or rebut an allegation. For this reason, he described the Murphy ­commission as “flawed”, because it “named and shamed” the diocesan officials it investigated, which was outside its remit and caused reputational damage.

But the Archbishop of Dublin, Diarmuid Martin, said every bishop or priest who engaged with the Murphy commission was offered legal assistance for their preparation, during their engagement, or when verifying drafts submitted to the commission for factual accuracy. The archbishop also questioned why diocesan officials who were unhappy with the procedures of the Murphy ­commission did not seek a judicial review.

While acknowledging the right of the ACP to examine or criticise the fairness of the 2004 act that established the commission of inquiry structure, Archbishop Martin pointed out that the Murphy report only dealt with a representative sample of 46 abuse cases. He said the Dublin diocesan child safeguarding and protection service and the civil authorities had, in fact, allegations recorded against 98 priests concerning more than 500 children.

A Irish Department of Justice spokesman said: “The report of the commission … was accepted and it would not be appropriate to comment on the points made.”