Standoff over abuse review preceded disbanding of Order of Malta board

A standoff over access to a review investigating a case of child sexual abuse by a former Order of Malta Ireland volunteer preceded the first-aid organisation’s board being disbanded in recent days.

Earlier this week, the entire board of the Irish organisation was dismissed by a senior figure appointed by the religious order’s headquarters in Rome, in response to a growing sexual abuse controversy.

Scott Browne (32), from Co Kildare, was jailed for 9½ years after he pleaded guilty in 2020 to sexually abusing two 15-year-old boys in separate incidents in 2018. Another Kildare volunteer, Jordan Murphy (22), was jailed for 5½ years this May for aiding and abetting Browne.

At the conclusion of the court proceedings in May the organisation’s board, known as the council, commissioned a full internal review into the case and wider child protection standards.

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The review was to be carried out by the organisation’s chief executive John Byrne, his predecessor Peadar Ward, and one external figure, retired assistant Garda commissioner Fintan Fanning.

In recent weeks members of the council had sought updates over the progress of the review, but had not been provided with copies of the inquiry, sources said.

The review had been completed and sent to FJ McCarthy, the senior figure appointed by Rome to oversee the Irish organisation in recent months.

A spokeswoman for the Order of Malta Ireland confirmed the review had been provided to Mr McCarthy, “but has not yet been sent to Rome for final review/approval,” and as such was not shared with the council.

The review had also been tasked with examining how the ambulance corps responded to at least two previous allegations Browne had sexually assaulting young men, made in 2015 and 2017, prior to the volunteer molesting the two underage boys.

Two previous preliminary inquiries, completed last year, heavily criticised the organisation’s handling of the prior allegations. Browne had only been removed as a volunteer in May 2018, when gardaí began investigating the abuse of the two 15-year-old boys.

The previous reports found there had been a failure to take action against Browne, despite the two alleged sexual assaults being reported to officers in the organisation’s ambulance corps.

[ Order of Malta board disbanded as fallout over child sex abuse controversy deepens ]

In a November 2nd letter, Mr McCarthy told members of the Irish association he had “no choice but to disband the presidential council”. In its place he set up an “executive steering group”, which he said would “assure continuity in governance” and “efficiency of purpose”.

Mr McCarthy, a New York businessman working in the real estate industry, said the acting head of the international order, Fra’ John T Dunlap, “was aware and supportive” of his decision to disband the Irish council.

The decision has raised tensions within the organisation over the response to the current controversy.

[ ‘Significant shortcomings’ in Order of Malta response to sexual abuse claim, report finds ]

One long-serving member of the association, effectively the inner circle of the organisation, said the revelations emerging over recent months had been “hugely disappointing”.

The member, who did not wish to be named, said he felt the council had been scapegoated, over a controversy that related to the organisation’s ambulance corps. He added the victims of abuse had also been “forgotten” in the fallout.

Several ambulance corps officers also privately expressed concern over the handling of the matter on Friday, in particular criticising the lack of communication with volunteers during the governance turmoil.