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I am strongly concerned about the ability of the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart to ensure that their child safety guidelines are being followed so that harm is not caused to defenceless children.

The Missionaries of the Sacred Heart have recently requested that one of their priests be removed from the priesthood. However, I believe the Order is not doing enough to ensure that the priest is unable to access children. They have not enforced the conditions of a Restricted Ministry Order designed to keep this priest away from children in the past. This order was placed on the priest in question in 1996, making it the Order's responsibility to monitor the priest travelling, stop him portraying himself as a priest in public and requiring the Order to ensure they knew of his whereabouts at all times. They failed.

In my opinion the Order is not making sufficient efforts to assist the victims of child abuse at the hands of priests in their order. They recently committed to adopting the comprehensive approach taken by Cardinal O'Malley in Boston, however the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart Order have now abandoned this commitment without proper explanation.

I remain gravely concerned and thoroughly convinced that this Order has not and is not taking sufficient steps to protect children in the Cork area and beyond.

ENDS