Presbyterian Church in Ireland safeguarding scandal: Leading Presbyterian child safeguarding expert says crisis could be similar to Catholic church
A Presbyterian child safeguarding expert believes the crisis in his own church over the collapse of its internal safguearding systems could be similar to that seen in the Catholic Church.
Internationally renowned safeguarding expert Ian Elliott was speaking to BBC Spotlight about the collapse in the central safeguarding systems in the Presbyterian Church of Ireland (PCI).
Last month then moderator Rev Trevor Gribben stood down after a review found “serious and significant failings” in central safeguarding functions from 2009 to 2022, part of which covered his time as the church's lead administrator.
The PSNI has launched a criminal investigation.
Mr Elliott said he heard people say it's unlikely to be similar to failings in the Catholic Church.
However he said he had worked extensively in the Catholic church "and I would feel strongly that there is nothing to say that we're not dealing with something similar here".
He believes the situation requires "a statutory public inquiry".
Jackie Montgomery Devlin was head of safeguarding in PCI for five years from 2019. When she arrived in office she was disturbed to find almost no records.
The BBC put it to her that some might say she should have reported the lack of basic safeguarding records to the authorities herself.
She replied: "Well, I think I need to explain that from the start, there were no records, so I didn't know if anything had happened. If I had gone to the police at that time... I'm sure their response might have been, 'What can we do about this when there's nothing there?'"
Ms Montgomery Devlin said that one of her first actions upon appointment was to pull together a panel of experts to assist her, which included Mr Elliott.
He then asked to see records for a case of abuse in Donegal the church asked him to consult on ten years before but he was disturbed to find no records.
He wrote to Rev Gribben asking questions but resigned after getting no answers.
PCI said that the crisis came to light after the conviction of someone associated with a congregation. Spotlight named him as an ex-primary school but said he was first found to be having inappropriate conversations with children as a Presbyterian youth leader as far back as 2019.