New Catholic Church child protection chief appointed

The new chief executive of the Catholic Church's child protection watchdog in Ireland is Teresa Devlin, it has been announced.

Ms Devlin had been acting chief executive of the watchdog, the National Board for Safeguarding Children (NBSC), since the retirement of Ian Elliott last June.

Her background is in social science, social studies and psychology, and she has an advanced diploma in child protection. She also has extensive experience in child protection management and family support, both at f senior management levels and in the areas of risk assessment and care planning.

Before joining the National Office for Safeguarding Children at Maynooth inAugust 2008 she served for four years as Head of Research Policy and Service Review at the office of the Northern Ireland Commissioner for Children and Young People.

Prior to her being appointed acting as NBSC chief executive last summer she had been Director of Safeguarding with the Board.

NBSC chairman John Morgan said this morning "Teresa brings a unique combination of experience, compassion and insight to the role and we are delighted to have her leading the team." He added: "We are hugely confident that she will continue to work with distinction as she moves into the CEO post permanently."