Strategic Review of Child Safeguarding in the Catholic Church in Ireland
The Catholic Church, through the offices of the Irish Episcopal Conference (IEC) and the Association of Leaders of Missionaries and Religious of Ireland (AMRI), has commissioned independent consultants, RSM Ireland, to undertake a Strategic Review of Child Safeguarding in the Catholic Church in Ireland. This is an external review which will include, as an essential component, the voice of victims and survivors of abuse.
The purpose of this Review is to evaluate all aspects of safeguarding, including the impact and effectiveness of the work done by the National Board for Safeguarding Children in the Catholic Church in Ireland and the two support organisations for survivors, Towards Healing and Towards Peace. An important part of this Review is to engage with survivors and victims of abuse so that their perspectives and experiences are meaningfully heard and considered by the Review Team. The abuse could be physical, sexual, emotional, financial or spiritual in nature. Specifically, we are seeking to engage with survivors who have disclosed their abuse within the last 20 years to determine what the Church is currently doing well, and which aspects of the Church’s response could be improved upon. This 20-year timeframe has been applied to the Review because the current safeguarding systems in the Church, which are the subject of this Review, have been in existence for up to 20 years.
This consultation will take place from 6th October 2023 to 6th November 2023, using a survey that has been specifically created for this purpose.
We want to hear about your experience of dealing with the Catholic Church after you disclosed your abuse. You can tell us how the Church responded to you; what your experiences – good and bad – were going through the system, or tell us about the advice, care, or support you might have received. To access the survey, please click on the link: ‘Survey for Survivors’.
For anyone unable to complete this survey online, please contact Survivor.Consultation@rsmireland.ie to get a copy of the survey sent out in the post.