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The establishment of the National Board in 2006 was the latest in a series of initiatives taken by the Catholic Church in Ireland in relation to child protection concerns. It may be helpful to list those initiatives chronologically (this information comes from the Irish Bishops' Conference):

Recent child protection initiatives taken by the Catholic Church in Ireland

1994 - Irish Catholic Bishops' Advisory Committee on Child Sexual Abuse by Priests and Religious convened under the Chairmanship of Most Rev. Laurence Forristal, Bishop of Ossory. Its purpose was to identify guidelines for Church policy in instances or suspicions of child sexual abuse by a priest or religious. The membership of the Committee included representatives from the professions of Psychiatry, Paediatrics, Law, Canon Law, Clergy, Religious and Communications.

1996 - Publication of Child Sexual Abuse: Framework for a Church Response (commonly referred to as: 'The Green Book') see www.cpo.ie. This report recognizes the paramount need to safeguard the welfare of children. It emphasizes the need for a strong commitment to prevention through a range of measures to reduce the risk of such abuse in the future.

1997 - National Resource Group established, under Chairmanship of Bishop Forristal. Its key terms of reference were:
- to serve as a resource for the Catholic Church in Ireland in responding to the issue of Child Sexual Abuse by priests and religious;
- to facilitate the implementation of the recommendations of the "Green Book".
Throughout 1997 the National Resource Group provided training programmes for all personnel appointed by dioceses - delegates, deputy delegates, support persons and priest advisors.

1998 - The National Resource Group organised a Consultation Seminar for English speaking Episcopal Committees dealing with Child Sexual Abuse - representatives of the Episcopal Conferences of eleven countries participated (Dundrum, Co Tipperary 18-21 May).

1999 - Bishops' Committee on Child Abuse established under the chairmanship of Bishop Eamonn Walsh to liaise with the Government proposed Commission to Inquiry into Child Abuse (Laffoy Commission). Membership of the Committee included representatives from the professions of psychology, canon law, counselling, education, clergy and religious.

2001 - January - The Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland is commissioned by the Bishops' Committee on Child Abuse to conduct a research project to examine the impact of clerical child sexual abuse on: (i) victims and their extended families; (ii) perpetrators and their extended families; (iv) colleagues; (v) parishes and the wider community. The results of this extensive study: Time to Listen, were published in December 2003.

2001 - July - The Child Protection Office of the Irish Bishops' Conference is established. See www.cpo.ie.

2001 - September - The Bishops' Committee on Child Protection was established under the chairmanship of Bishop Eamonn Walsh and it replaces the Bishops' Committee on Child Abuse.

2002 - April - The Bishops' Conference announce a nationwide independent audit into handling of all complaints of child sexual abuse by diocesan priests or religious in diocesan appointments as far back as 1940.

2002 - July - Judge Gillian Hussey was appointed as chairperson of the Catholic Church Commission on Child Sexual Abuse (Hussey Commission).

2002 - September - Judge Hussey announces the members of her Commission which were drawn from the professions of social work, psychology, law, law enforcement, criminology, and a social historian.

2002 - December - Judge Hussey decides to cease the work of this Commission following the announcement by the Minister for Justice for the: "preparation of a scheme for a statutory basis for a new mechanism for investigating into matters of significant and urgent public importance". It was the Minister's intention that such a scheme would include the handling of clerical sexual abuse. Thus, Judge Hussey believed her Commission would be duplicating the work of the State.

2003 - June - The Working Group on Child Protection, chaired by management consultant Ms Maureen Lynott, is established by the Bishops' Conference, Conference of Religious in Ireland and the Irish Missionary Union to develop a comprehensive and integrated child protection policy for the Irish Catholic Church. Members of the group included experts in education, health, child protection, social work, law enforcement, victims' rights representatives and theologians.

2003 - August - A set of good practice guidelines entitled Working with Children and Young People in the Catholic Church Community in Ireland are developed by the Bishops' Child Protection Office in collaboration with its Committee on Child Protection. These guidelines were distributed to all dioceses and religious congregations. See www.cpo.ie.

2003 - December - Publication of Time to Listen, Confronting Child Sexual Abuse by Catholic Clergy in Ireland. This report was the first occasion internationally in which the Catholic Church had commissioned independent research into clerical child sexual abuse. The study not only assessed the impact of abuse on victims and abusers, but it also examined these effects on their families, colleagues and on wider society. See: www.catholiccommunications.ie.

2004 - The Bishops' Child Protection Office commences its National Training Initiative in St Patrick's College, Maynooth. 20 participants from nine dioceses start their training as child protection trainers.

2005 - January - The Working Group on Child Protection (the Lynott Group) unanimously agrees to be associated with the draft new policy and procedures for the protection of children.

2005 - February - The Irish Bishops' Conference launch: Towards Healing, a Lenten pastoral reflection on child sexual abuse. Towards Healing was distributed throughout dioceses and parishes on the island of Ireland. It was also sent to groups representing victims of child sexual abuse.

2005 - 4th December - First group of child protection trainers (19 graduates) receive their certificates from Archbishop Seán Brady. The Irish Bishops' Conference national training strategy was established in 2003 to implement policies and procedures within dioceses for the protection and welfare of children that would be wholly in keeping with statutory guidelines in this area (Children First, Department of Health and Children, 1999 and Cooperating to Safeguard Children, DHSSPS, NI) and in order to prepare for the introduction of Our Children, Our Church. A core aspect of the national training strategy involves trainees undertaking a course based at St Patrick's' College, Maynooth, leading to an Open College Network Certificate called: "Keeping Safe: Training the Trainers' Programme". Following their accreditation, trainers will act as training facilitators in their own dioceses and provide information and support in developing safe practice procedures for dealing with young people within parishes. A further 25 are currently in training, 21 from dioceses and four from CORI.

2005 - 19th December - Publication and launch of Our Children, Our Church: Child Protection Policies and Procedures for the Catholic Church in Ireland.

2006 - National Board for Safeguarding Children in the Catholic Church in Ireland was established in 2006 in order to provide best practice advice and to monitor the safeguarding of children in the Catholic Church.

Pending - 'Standards and Guidance Document': The National Board for Safeguarding Children is currently formulating a 'Standards and Guidance Document' which will be endorsed by Church Leaders and Statutory Agencies, North and South, to become the policy document to which all groups within the Church dealing with children will refer.