BORN IN Dublin, Ian Elliott worked for most of his adult life in Northern Ireland before being headhunted by the Catholic Church to be chief executive of its child protection watchdog, the National Board for Safeguarding Children in the Catholic Church (NBSC). He has been chief executive since July 2007.
The NBSC was set up by the Catholic Church to monitor its child protection practice. It is funded by the sponsoring bodies the Conference of Irish Bishops, the Conference of Religious of Ireland and the Conference of Religious in Ireland but operates independently.
Mr Elliot is a graduate of Trinity College Dublin and the University of Ulster, and has a master’s in business administration from the Open University business school.
He was appointed director of the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children in Northern Ireland in June 2001 and was seconded to the Department of Health, Social Services and Public Services there in September 2005. He was its lead child protection adviser.
His role there was further expanded when he was asked to design and implement a major reform programme for child- protection services within the region.
Mr Elliott yesterday stressed the importance of the review process for the church.
“It is important to have regular independent monitoring and for the findings to be put into the public domain,” he said.