Sir, – Contrary to the report on the Criminal Justice (Withholding of Information on Offences Against Children and Vulnerable Persons) Bill 2012, (Front page, April 26th), there is no minimum term of imprisonment for a conviction under either s.2 or s.3 of the Bill. There is a maximum possible term of 10 years specified in s.5.
The Bill also provides for exceptions for privileged communications. Notwithstanding the uncertain status of sacerdotal privilege (the seal of the confessional) in contemporary Irish law, it would appear that members of the clergy who receive information in circumstances of confidence that leads them to believe that a scheduled offence has been committed against a child of vulnerable will not have to report this.
The Bill does nothing to dis-apply sacerdotal privilege, and as such, in any attempted criminal prosecution against a member of the clergy for failing to disclose the information in question they would be able to rely on this privilege and the court would not be able to compel them to disclose the information. This makes criminal prosecutions unlikely or impossible. – Yours, etc,
Sir, – As far back as 1945, the High Court has held that sacerdotal (confessional) privilege has enjoyed constitutional protection in a little known case, concerning a parish priest’s refusal to testify in a seduction action, in Listowel Circuit Court, Cook v Carroll. It makes very interesting reading. – Yours, etc,