TO CELEBRATE THE OPENING OF OUR NEW WOOD FLOORING SHOWROOM, WE ARE OFFERING AT LEAST 35% OFF ALL WOOD FLOORING TERMS & CONDITIONS APPLY Ballymount Retail Centre, Ballymount Road Upper, Dublin 24. (Exit 10 from M50). Ph: 01 855 5200. Fax: 01 855 7471. Email: info@tilestyle.ie www.tilestyle.ie EUROPES LARGEST TILE & STONE SHOWROOM To receive your free wood flooring brochure, please email your postal address to info@tilestyle.ie FINAL WEEK - ENDS SUNDAY METRO Friday, November 27, 2009 D Abuse by paedophile priests was calculated Apology: Archbishop of Dublin Diarmuid Martin, centre, speaks yesterday at a press conference in the Mater Dei Institute following the publication of the Commission report Pictures: PA Covering abuse was as bad as abuse itself... COUNSELLORS were last night bracing themselves for an onslaught of crisis calls after the latest horrific revelations of a Catholic Church cover-up of clerical sex abuse. Some of the countrys leading victim support services, which saw as much as a 300 per cent surge in calls after the Ryan Report in May, said they were preparing for a similar reaction to the Dublin Archdiocese inquiry. However, Maeve Lewis, the executive director of One In Four, warned that some services were worried about their ability to quickly respond to survivors because of Government funding cutbacks and a recession-led collapse in private donations. Influx of crisis calls expected METRO Briefing The Commission examined 100,000 files, including 70,000 from the Dublin Archdio- cese, in its three-year trawl Garda gave documentation from 1995 onwards, but were unable to supply files from the 1960s to the 1980s as they had been destroyed or mislaid Detectives recorded more than 800 incidents of a sexual nature nationwide where the suspect is, or was, a cleric, or linked to a religious order Up to July 2009, just under 7million compensation was paid to victims The Dublin Archdiocese has spent almost 564,000 on the treatment of diocesan priests Only one case of a false accusation of child abuse against a priest was identified The inquiry was based on a sample of complaints, involving 320 children, against the 46 priests between 1975 and 2004 Of the complaints, three were made in the 1960s, 11 in the 1970s, 64 in the 1980s, 135 in the 1990s and 112 in the 2000s SURVIVORS of clerical abuse de- manded yesterday that senior clergy and garda who allowed known paedophile priests to prey on chil- dren be brought to justice. Victims said those in power who protected the Catholic Church are as guilty as the priests who carried out the sickening sex assaults. They also called for the inquiry into how allegations of abuse were dealt with by Dublins Catholic hi- erarchy to be widened to investigate every archdiocese in Ireland. Andrew Madden, who first spoke out ten years ago about the abuse he suffered at the hands of notorious paedophile Fr Ivan Payne, said the report was a shocking indictment on the Church in Dublin. Those who turn a blind eye to these offences are as much a part of the problem as those who actually commit them, he said. Looking the other way causes more children to be sexually abused. Maeve Lewis, of support group One In Four, called for a criminal investigation into the religious fig- ures, garda and civil servants who shielded clerics. I would consider people, like Archbishop Connell, is as guilty as the priest who actually sexually abused the children, she said. Marie Collins, who was abused by a priest named in the report as Fr Edmondus almost 50 years ago, said she had no trust in the in- stitution. She called for the Church to be put in the hands of the State. The Church should not be policing itself. They have shown that they cannot be trusted, she said. John Kelly, from Irish Survivors of Child Abuse, demanded Pope Bene- dict come to Ireland to apologise to victims and to the Irish people. by sArAh sTACk PAEDOPHILE priests wont escape justice, the Government promised yesterday, branding their reign of terror a systemic, calculated perversion of power and trust. As the extent of cover- ups by Catholic hierarchy was revealed, the Government apologised, insisting dark days of abuse and secrecy were over. Justice Minister Dermot Ahern pledged to bring offenders to court regardless of the time that has passed. He spoke of the revulsion and anger he felt as a father and as a member of the community at the horrible evil acts committed against children and praised the courage of victims who gave evidence to the Commission. President Mary McAleese said she was dismayed at the cover-up of the abuse, which has left a legacy of great hurt. index.html2.html3.html4.html5.html6.html7.html8.html9.html10.html11.html12.html13.html14.html15.html16.html17.html18.html19.html20.html21.html22.html23.html24.html25.html26.html27.html28.html29.html30.html31.html32.html33.html34.html35.html