Courts are key to sex abuse cases, says Martin

THE head of the Catholic Church in Ireland says judgment of alleged failures to safeguard children is primarily a matter for the country’s courts.

Archbishop Eamon Martin was responding to questions about calls for the establishment of a Vatican accountability tribunal.

Speaking to the Irish Independent, Dr Martin said it would be “a mistake to think that somehow a system or a process in Rome is going to keep our children safe or ensure full accountability”.

Abuse survivor Marie Collins has urged that a Vatican tribunal be set up to deal with bishops and cardinals suspected of covering up child abuse.

Pope Francis backed the proposal for the tribunal when it was first recommended in 2015, but he appeared to dismiss it on the flight back from Dublin to Rome at the end of August, saying it would not work.

Acknowledging that accountability is “key”, Dr Martin said: “It is very important that accountability operates as part of a just system.”

He said “various mechanisms” on accountability are being considered in the Church.

But he stressed that in Ireland, reporting of abuse is mandatory and it is the courts that decide if somebody has failed in this regard.

It is only when the civil or criminal process is concluded, that accountability under canon law takes place, he added.