Presbyterian Church in Ireland will publish safeguarding and governance findings from Charity Commission
The Presbyterian Church has committed to publishing the findings of an independent external review of its governance and safeguarding, the Presbyterian General Assembly has said.
The comments were made by Rev Jonathan Boyd on the third day of the 2026 General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland, held at Assembly Buildings in Belfast.
Then Moderator Rev Trevor Gribben resigned in November after serious failures were discovered in the church's central safeguarding functions for children and vulnerable adults.
The PSNI and Charity Commission began major investigations – into potential criminal offences and organisational governance respectively.
In response, the church set up the Statutory Investigations Advisory Task Group and the General Assembly Governance Culture and Integrity Task Group.
As the police and Charity Commission chose to liaise directly with recalled moderator Rev Richard Murray alone, the role of the task groups was to advise him how to respond.
Rev Jonathan Boyd, Convenor of the church's General Council and newly appointed clerk of the General Assembly, told delegates on Thursday that the charity commission investigation findings will be published in full.
The INEQE Safeguarding Group has been approved by the commission to carry out its investigation, led by former senior PSNI officer Jim Gamble.
Rev Boyd said INEQE has begun the independent external review of governance and safeguarding "and the Church has already committed to publishing the findings of the review and all learning that comes from them, except where this would compromise the integrity of the review process or contradict legal obligations regarding data protection".
He noted that a lot of parameters for church engagement with police and the commission have been set by those bodies, and consequently the moderator has “shouldered a fairly significant burden this year” as the sole point of contact.
Much of the work of the Statutory Investigations Advisory Task Group is “necessarily confidential” he said.
"To protect the integrity of the police investigation there is relatively little we can say about it at this stage, but there is more that we can say about the inquiry being carried out by the Charity Commission.”
(Police have said they are looking at 101 safeguarding referrals).
Transparency and honesty are “vital for restoring confidence in the governance and safeguarding arrangements of the church” he said.
The charity commission review is progressing well “and INEQE will soon begin gathering information from congregations and individuals” he said.
Co-operating with the review and the PSNI investigation has created “a lot of additional work for staff”.
Some progress has already been made in improving safeguarding and governance, he said, and he trusts that the INEQE review will help make further improvements
Rev Peter Gamble from the church’s General Council proposed that the General Assembly Governance Culture and Integrity Task Group's work be put on hold, due to potential duplication with other church work, and the police and commission investigations.
There was a concern, "maybe even probability, that some of its work would need to be unpicked" he said.
After an extended debate, however, it was decided that it would continue its work.
Meanwhile, after a delegate’s question, Director of Operations Ken Swarbrick said the church has £80m in a General Investment Fund – much of which belongs to congregations, and £3-4m in bank accounts.