Order of Malta Rome-appointee played down previous report on assaults

The senior figure in the international organisation of the Order of Malta who disbanded the board of the Irish first-aid organisation previously played down a report criticising its handling of sexual assault allegations about a volunteer.

FJ McCarthy, who has been appointed by the headquarters of the religious order in Rome to oversee the Irish organisation, last week stood down its board amid a growing sexual abuse controversy.

A former first-aid volunteer, 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.

Following the conclusion of a second court case earlier this year, the Order of Malta has been grappling with the fallout over the abuse.

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[ Standoff over abuse review preceded disbanding of Order of Malta board ]

The organisation had received two prior complaints about Browne allegedly sexually assaulting young men in its ambulance corps, but he was not removed as a volunteer until gardaí began investigating the abuse of the two underage teenagers.

Internal documents show Mr McCarthy and another senior figure previously played down an independent report that criticised how the organisation had responded to previous allegations about Browne.

Failure to inform

That report, completed last year, found there were “significant” shortcomings in how the organisation handled the sexual assault allegations, including a year-and-a-half delay in notifying statutory authorities. It said a failure to inform Browne’s local ambulance unit of the allegations against him could have placed others in danger.

The report was carried out by safeguarding consultant Patrick Brosnan, a former Health Service Executive (HSE) regional director of mental health services. It built on a preliminary internal report, which also heavily criticised the response to the sexual assault allegations.

Mr McCarthy and Peter van Meeuwen, another senior figure in the international order, were sent to investigate the turmoil in the Irish organisation late last year.

A memo from the pair, seen by The Irish Times, criticised the independent report as “generic and ambiguous at best”. The memo said Mr Brosnan’s work was “based solely” on the previous preliminary internal report carried out.

Mr Brosnan said he “absolutely” stood over his report, which he added clearly stated that it was a desktop review.

“I made observations on what would be good safeguarding practice. I wasn’t asked to interview anyone,” he told The Irish Times.

Use of position

The former HSE official said his report showed there had been an “absence of adherence to good practice” in the case. The findings of his report “mightn’t have been received well”, he said.

The memo also said the abuse of the two 15-year-old boys Browne was convicted over had been “unrelated” to the Order of Malta.

However, the court heard how the two boys were molested after being incapacitated with medication stolen from the first-aid organisation. Browne’s sentencing heard how he had used his position in the Order of Malta “to perpetrate his crimes”.

Mr McCarthy did not respond to a request for comment on the criticism of Mr Brosnan’s report.

Mr van Meeuwen said the work, commissioned by the government council of the order, was confidential so he could not comment.

In July, Mr McCarthy was appointed by the headquarters in Rome to oversee the running of the Irish organisation. Last week, he disbanded the organisation’s board and replaced it with an “executive steering group”, which he said would assure “efficiency of purpose”.

The organisation has yet to inform its members what individuals are making up the new steering group.