Process and Publication of The Report
An initial report was made to the government in 2002 by George Bermingham SC. A non-statutory private inquiry was then established in March 2003 by Micheál Martin as Minister for Health and Children, comprising three persons: Francis Murphy, a retired Supreme Court Judge; Dr Helen Buckley, a sociology lecturer at Trinity College Dublin; and Dr Laraine Joyce of the office of health management, a part of the Ministry for Health and Children.
The report was published in October 2005, noting the anonymity of victims and alleged abusers, and highlighting that in the Ministry's opinion: no evidence was placed before the Inquiry suggesting the operation or the organisation of a paedophile ring in the Diocese of Ferns or any clerical institution within that Diocese. The report cost just under €1.9 million.
The Report was considered to be more robust that the Church's own McCullough Report, released earlier in 2005, which covered one aspect concerning allegations about Michael Ledwith. The main Dáil debate on the Ferns Report was in two parts on 9 November 2005. The Irish Senate debate started on 10 November.
Read more about this topic: Ferns Report
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