Rónán Mullen (Independent)

I believe it is very important that we debate the Murphy report on Thursday. These are heavy days for people of goodwill at all levels of the Catholic church and outside it because of the abuse and the fact that the handling of these cases was characterised by massive incompetence, and sometimes more than that, and ineptitude farther back in the past. Like Senator O'Sullivan, I have had the impression in recent days that people who had very little concern about child protection issues were acting as though they had won an All-Ireland final and taking the opportunity to pursue separate agendas. I hope the Church would not fear a national audit. I believe in the maxim "the truth will set you free". When we hear the full story of abuse in the church, this will be a better society for it and we will, I hope, continue to examine abuses across society. The 96% of cases outside the church context should be of as much interest to us.

I have great respect for Senator O'Toole but, with the best will in the world, he may have caused a misunderstanding about a possible conflict of interest in respect of the role of bishops. There is a designated liaison person in each school who must contact the HSE where an allegation is made. By the time the patron is notified, the train of accountability has left the station. It is interesting to know that if a chaplain is involved, we find that diocesan guidelines are generally even more strict. If the person against whom an allegation is made is a chaplain, that person is gone straightaway and much quicker than if he was a lay teacher. The Catholic Primary School Management Association has been pushing for a review of the Children First guidelines, published nine years ago and for which the Ferns report called, but this has still not happened. This must be part of the debate also.

In recent days I have been talking to people involved in education management. It is a fact that voluntary schools are receiving on average €200 less per child than VEC schools and €90 less per child than secondary schools that are community schools. This is not cherishing the children of the nation equally. We have a situation where 30% of their budgets has to be raised through fundraising activities.