The Catholic Church’s child
protection watchdog received reports of 72 new allegations of clerical
child sex abuse as well as 10 of physical and emotional abuse in the
year to March 31st 2017, as a downward trend in such allegations
continues.
The National Board for Safeguarding Children (NBSC), based at Maynooth,
also received one allegation relating to boundary violation during the
year and three where the abuse was unspecified. Most allegations related
to a period from the 1950s to the 1990s, with a sharp drop after the
year 2000.