'Don't ask, don't tell' attitude at work in Archdiocese, report finds
The Murphy report into the rape and molestation of 320 children by 46 priests in the Dublin Archdiocese has found the Church and a former Garda Commissioner covered up abuse.
The 700-page report which was published today, finds four Archbishops in Dublin did little or nothing to protect children from paedophile priests.
One of the findings is that former Garda Commissioner Daniel Costigan was contacted by Scotland Yard in the UK in 1960 and told that the Chaplin of Our Lady’s Hospital for Sick Children had sent photographs of children in sexual positions to the UK to be developed.
The Commission found that the photographs disappeared and Commissioner Costigan did not launch an investigation into allegations of molestation. Instead he held a meeting with then Archbishop, John Charles McQuaid, and allowed the Church to investigate the case. Archbishop McQuaid concluded no crime had been committed.
The report also found that one priest raped or molested more than 100 children while another admitted abusing children every two weeks for more than 25 years.
The Archdiocese of Dublin under Archbishops John Charles McQuaid, Dermot Ryan, Kevin McNamara and Cardinal Desmond Connell was found to have a “Don’t ask, don’t tell” attitude to child abuse.
The Murphy report concludes that one of the biggest tragedies of abuse it found in this investigation was that in these instances, unlike others, children WERE believed by their parents and some instances authorities but the Church and Gardai didn’t investigate.
