Surge in reports of historic abuse by priests and religious last year - report

The Catholic Church’s child protection watchdog received a surge in reports of alleged historical child sexual abuse last year.

Revelations of historical sexual abuse in Blackrock College and other fee-paying schools run by religious orders led to a significant increase in survivors coming forward to report abuse at the hands of priests or members of religious orders.

The National Board for Safeguarding Children in the Catholic Church said there were 251 allegations of abuse reported to dioceses or religious orders last year, up from 178 reports the year before. The church safeguarding board’s annual report said the increase was driven by people coming forward to report being sexually abused in boarding schools run by religious orders.

Some 56 instances of alleged abuse occurred in the 1980s, 88 allegations against priests or those in religious orders related to incidents in the 1970s, and a further 36 in the 1960s.

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The board’s report said it received two reports of alleged religious abuse taking place in the 2020s and one report of alleged abuse occurring in both the 2010s and 2000s.

Last December alone the board received 76 notifications from people who had come forward to disclose being abused in the past, which was higher than the number of reports in the previous eight months combined.

The increase in disclosures followed an RTÉ radio documentary detailing historic abuse in Spiritan-run Blackrock College, which led to further revelations of past abuse in other boarding schools.

The alleged perpetrator was deceased in more than half of the 135 cases where survivors reported being abused by members of religious orders, the report said. Eight individuals had left religious orders, three were in prison, while one was currently in ministry, it said.

Of allegations reported about 35 priests last year, nearly half were deceased, while five were noted as being “in ministry”, the report said. A further six were out of ministry, one was in prison and three were retired.

The surge in survivors reporting past abuse has continued, with nearly 100 reports of alleged abuse made against priests or members of religious orders in the first three months of this year.

Teresa Devlin, the safeguarding board’s chief executive, said many recent cases related to abuse in religious-run boarding schools.

“While we can be fairly confident that existing practice with children is well regulated, our work in safeguarding will not be completed until all of those who have been abused as children within the church are enabled to come forward,” she said.