I want to join Teresa, the Chairperson of our Diocesan Safeguarding Children Committee, in welcoming you all here this evening to what will from now on be our Annual Safeguarding Children Conference. The launch of our updated policy manual, ‘Safeguarding Children in the Diocese of Kilmore, Policies and Procedures’, marks yet another important stage on our journey of ensuring that children and young people are safe when they take part in Church activities. We are also launching an updated Newsletter with basic information, which I hope will find its way to every home in the diocese.
Ministry to children is central to our pastoral mission to spread the Good News of Jesus. A key element of this ministry is valuing and encouraging the participation of children in parish and diocesan activities. Our updated policy manual is a tangible expression of our commitment to safeguard children throughout the diocese. I wish to assure young people and their parents and guardians that the Church in Kilmore is a safe environment for children. I hope they will always find it a welcoming, positive and encouraging place to worship, meet and work with others.
The National Board for Safeguarding Children in the Catholic Church in Ireland (NBSCCCI) was established in 2006 to provide advice on best practice in safeguarding children in the Church across both jurisdictions of Ireland. In 2009 the NBSCCCI developed seven standards which represent the expected level of performance that all parts of the Church should reach. Meeting these seven standards will protect children by ensuring that they are in a safe environment and minimising risk of abuse to them. They will protect Church personnel by clarifying how they are expected to behave with children and what to do if there are allegations and suspicions about the safety of a child. They will protect the integrity of the Church and its mission by making clear its commitment to keeping children safe and by modelling best practice.
I would like to take this opportunity of paying tribute to the National Board and their staff and in particular Mr Ian Elliott for the tremendous work they have done in a very short time and with limited resources to put these policies and procedures in place. I want to thank them for their great support, availability and advice, not just in preparing the new manual, but at all times. I thank Ian for his kind words about me and also for the great encouragement that the Review of Safeguarding in the Diocese gave to all of us involved in this work. I would also like to thank the HSE and the Gardaí for their support and assistance, especially in the area of dealing with allegations and complaints.
The safeguarding children procedures outlined in our updated manual, ‘Safeguarding Children in the Diocese of Kilmore, Policies and Procedures’, are compiled in accordance with the National Board’s Standards and Guidance Document for the Catholic Church in Ireland. It seeks to incorporate best practice as found in the civil documents, Children First: National Guidance for the Protection and Welfare of Children, 2011 and Cooperating to Safeguard Children. Our new manual includes new information and updated policies and procedures. It is presented in loose leaf format to facilitate copying and to make it easier to update policies and procedures in the future. This manual, forms etc, are available to download from our diocesan website.
I want to pay tribute to the Diocesan Safeguarding Committee and their chairperson Teresa Carroll for their work in producing this new handbook for the diocese. I want to say a special word of thanks to our Diocesan Co-ordinator, Suzie Duffy, and to her co-trainer Lucy Ó Mórdha, for the huge amount of work they have done in drafting the new handbook and getting it printed. I think you will agree that, as well as being a very comprehensive guide to policy and practice, it is beautifully designed, very attractive and user friendly. For that we are indebted, as we have been on many other occasions, to Mr Ray Fadden whose generosity and attention to detail know no bounds.
On a practical note: As you are aware, new parish pastoral councils are due to be put in place this autumn and if the safeguarding children members of these councils change please ensure that you pass on this manual to them.
I was very happy to read in the report of the Review of the Diocese of Kilmore completed by the National Board last November that ‘the overall view of current practice is that it is of a consistently high standard’ and ‘some of the notable features within Kilmore were the enthusiasm and commitment of staff and volunteers’. This is as result of the hard work and commitment of the safeguarding personnel within the diocese, yourselves. There are over two hundred people who have specific roles in safeguarding children and young people and this is not to talk about leaders, volunteers and parents at parish level who all have roles to play in safeguarding. I want to say a very sincere ‘thank you’ to these 200 and more people. I’ve already mentioned the Diocesan Safeguarding Children Committee. There is also the Advisory Panel, the Coordinator of Safeguarding Children and the Trainers, the Diocesan Designated Persons, and the Support People. Finally, at the coal face, at parish level, there are the Priests, the Parish Safeguarding Children Representatives and the members of Recruitment Committees. I thank you all for your ongoing commitment, energy and giving of your time to ensure that our safeguarding policy and procedures are implemented at diocesan and parish level.
It has been the practice of the diocese to publish statistics concerning allegations of abuse on an annual basis. It is my intention to do so again later this year.
Sadly, safeguarding structures and procedures came too late to protect the many people who suffered abuse at the hands of priests and religious in the past. I once more express my profound sorrow and regret to those who have suffered abuse in the Church and thereby experienced a terrible betrayal of sacred trust. I am committed to the objective that our work in safeguarding children will do everything possible to ensure that abuse within the Church can never happen again.
