Allegations of abuse on Caldey Island

Part of 3. Topical Questions – in the Senedd at 3:28 pm on 29 November 2017.

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Photo of Angela Burns Angela Burns Conservative 3:28, 29 November 2017

Minister, I've listened very carefully to what you have said to Darren Millar, however I do have two other points I would like to make. The first is that Dyfed-Powys Police were aware of these allegations themselves in both 2014 and again in 2016. The reason they did not move to prosecution was they said there was little point because the monk in question had since died—he'd passed away. However, there should still have been some form of investigation, because how did they know that he was the only one? How did they know that he didn't have conspirators in terms of a cover-up? How did they know that there may not be other children put at risk? I'm not overly impressed with the actions of Dyfed-Powys Police on this matter, and I would like to ask you, as the Minister, to write to them in the strongest terms for them to actually investigate how they acted and whether or not they took the appropriate action at the time, because I think that they have been found wanting on this matter. They should have looked at it and not just said, 'Well, never mind, the chap's dead, it's an irrelevancy.' And I do not think that they should be allowed off the hook on this.

The second point I'd like to talk about is the fact that I wrote last week to the abbot at Caldey Island and I asked him if he would refer himself or set up a full investigation to be carried out by another independent organisation. I appreciate that you feel that you cannot move forward because of the current police investigation, however I've thought on this further, and, as I'm sure you are aware, the Catholic Church themselves have an ongoing independent inquiry into the sexual abuse and exploitation of children in the Roman Catholic Church. I appreciate that, at the moment, they are looking at the Benedictine congregation, but I wondered whether you, in your capacity as Minister, would write to that inquiry, and ask them whether they would also look at the Cistercian Order on Caldey Island, because they do have a wider remit than just the Benedictine congregation. And I think it's very important that the Catholic Church are struggling with this issue, and that this is yet another example of where, I think, they should be looking at it to ensure that there is not systemic abuse going on within any of these organisations.