Allegation of sex abuse in school to be addressed by Taoiseach

Taoiseach Enda Kenny will report to the Dáil on allegations of sexual and physical abuse in an Irish school.

“Nobody wants to have this kind of activity not properly investigated,’’ he said.

He said he would come back to the House when the child and family agency, Tusla, had finished investigating the allegations.

Mr Kenny was responding in the Dáil to Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin, who called for an independent inquiry. He said the allegations were of "varying degrees of seriousness'', adding there was an Ombudsman's report on how the school's board of management, the HSE and Department of Education responded.

He said he knew a child, who made allegations, had written to Mr Kenny.

“Suffice to say the Ombudsman’s report is a damning indictment of the manner in which the response to the complaints was administered by the board of management, the HSE and, indeed, by the department,’’ he said.

He said the Garda accepted its original investigation was not up to standard and it was being renewed, with fresh allegations received.

He said “that was all in 2005/2006, not 50 years ago, 30 years ago, not 20 years ago’’.

The Ombudsman, he said, found the department failed to assist the board in evaluating the investigative procedure.

Mr Kenny said it was a sensitive case which had to be investigated properly and he was aware of the implications in the Ombudsman’s report.

He said he would like to hear back from the investigation before making a judgment on it. Before that, he was not going to say whether there should be an independent inquiry.