Presbyterian Church in Ireland safeguarding 'overstretched and overwhelmed'

Elders and clergy from over 500 congregations across the island of Ireland gathered today for the first day of their four day General Assembly at Assembly Buildings in Belfast, to steer the direction of the church.

Ex-moderator Trevor Gribben resigned in November after an internal investigation found serious failings in central safeguarding functions of the church for children and vulnerable adults.

The PSNI says it has 101 related referrals to investigate while the Charity Commission has also launched a statutory inquiry.

Mr Swarbrick told the assembly that there is "a small team of people working really hard to try and get on top of this, and we can’t do everything at once”.

"As I’m sure you can understand, there are a lot of metaphorical fires burning in ‘Safeguarding World’ and while clearly acknowledging that all fires are dangerous … some of them simply need to be monitored and left to burn while we focus our efforts on the bigger and more dangerous ones."

When the safeguarding issue rose to prominence in November last year, the church had some Safeguarding staff but didn’t have a Safeguarding Department, he said.

Now it has;-

• A Safeguarding Lead • Two full time and two part time Safeguarding Officers

• A Safeguarding Policy Officer

• Three full time and one part time admin officers

"We haven’t yet been able to fill the Head of Safeguarding role but we have appointed Mrs Caitlin Neale as our Safeguarding Training Officer and she’ll be joining the team next month."

Geoff Marshall has been appointed as the Temporary Safeguarding Lead, he added.

He added: "Our Safeguarding Department is overstretched and at times overwhelmed but its growing and developing and working really hard to deliver what is required of it.”

Since the crisis broke. they have delivered training to over 3,000 youth leaders and 1,400 elders.

"The team has processed over 1000 vetting applications in May but the rate at which applications are being received is higher than the rate at which we can process them,” he said.

Convenor of the Safeguarding Development Committee Rev Dr David Bruce said that since the safeguarding failures came to light, the church opened a telephone reponse line.

"The range of matters raised has been wide, and all of them have been taken seriously." All reports have been passed to police or social services, he said.

A protocol for handling the suspension of clergy has been evolving, he said.

(Concerns have previously been raised that clergy have been suspended but without being told the reasons why. A new protocol has corrected this flaw.)

An inquiry into safeguarding and governance has been started by the INEQE safeguarding orgnisation for the Charity Commission, listening to the stories of all complainants.

"I make a commitment that their stories and needs will help to shape best practice as we look ahead,” he added.

Later, Cork minister Rev Richie Cronin proposed a group be formed to consider whether the church should remain a part of the World Communion of Reformed Churches (WCRC). He said the body had become strongly pro-LGBT and pro-abortion, evoking strong applause in his comments.

Former moderators Rev John Dunlop and Rev Trevor Morrow among others spoke strongly against the proposal, however it was passed strongly in a voice vote.

Meanwhile, Acting Clerk of the General Assembly, Rev David Allen, was appointed to Assistant Clerk while Rev Jonathan Boyd of Killyleagh Presbyterian Church was appointed to Clerk, both to strong applause. Principal of the Union Theological College Rev Michael McClenahan was also reappointed to his role.