{"id":186452,"date":"2025-11-18T03:58:09","date_gmt":"2025-11-18T03:58:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/186452\/"},"modified":"2025-11-18T03:58:09","modified_gmt":"2025-11-18T03:58:09","slug":"dedicated-psni-team-to-investigate-presbyterian-church-abuse-allegations-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/186452\/","title":{"rendered":"Dedicated PSNI team to investigate Presbyterian Church abuse allegations \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

A dedicated team of senior detectives in the Police Service of Northern Ireland<\/a> (PSNI) is to lead a criminal investigation into abuse allegations within the Presbyterian Church<\/a> of Ireland, it has emerged.<\/p>\n

Discussions have also taken place with An Garda S\u00edoch\u00e1na<\/a> as there may be victims in the Republic, the PSNI has confirmed.<\/p>\n

At a press conference in Belfast on Monday, PSNI assistant Chief Constable David Beck said a \u201csmall number\u201d of victims had come forward.<\/p>\n

However, he added that the scale of the investigation could be \u201cquite significant\u201d.<\/p>\n

Last week, the moderator of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland, the Rev Trevor Gribben, resigned over a failure<\/a> to deal adequately with child protection issues.<\/p>\n

A report by the church\u2019s safeguarding team identified a \u201cnumber of situations between 2009 and 2021, with one as late as 2022, where we have failed to deliver an adequate safeguarding service\u201d.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0Presbyterian Church ignored concerns over its child safeguarding policies, expert saysOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

It involved three Presbyterian congregations, on both sides of the Border.<\/p>\n

During Monday\u2019s PSNI press conference, a direct appeal was made to alleged victims to come forward.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe recognise this may be difficult and you may not be ready. That is okay. When you are ready, we are here to listen to and support you,\u201d Mr Beck said.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou don\u2019t have to come to a police station, we can come to you, on your terms. You will be treated with sensitivity, respect and professionalism.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Presbyterian Church in Ireland has about 185,000 members, with about 22,000 of those in the Republic.<\/p>\n

Mr Beck said there was the \u201cpotential for this to be a cross-Border and cross-jurisdictional investigation\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have spoken to my counterpart in An Garda S\u00edoch\u00e1na today to ensure this is co-ordinated and joined up,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

The PSNI investigation team will aim to make sure that \u201cperpetrators are held to account\u201d but it will also look at whether criminal offences were committed by those responsible for safeguarding in the church, media were told.<\/p>\n

The church welcomed the police investigation and said it would co-operate fully.<\/p>\n

There has been criticism over the past week by safeguarding experts about the church\u2019s response to the allegations, with calls for more transparency and the establishment of an independent inquiry.<\/p>\n

In a statement released following the PSNI announcement, a church spokesman said it believed the criminal investigation will provide a \u201cthorough, trusted and transparent outcome\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe will co-operate fully with the investigation. We will make available all relevant files, reports and information to assist police with their inquiries,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The PSNI confirmed last week that it was involved in discussions with the Presbyterian Church after concerns were raised by the church following the conviction of an individual in 2024 for child sex offences.<\/p>\n

On Monday, Mr Beck said the PSNI was now looking at other potential offenders.<\/p>\n

\u201cOver the last number of days we have been working with statutory partners to formalise a co-ordinated response to address the matters that have come to light as a result of the recent announcement by the Presbyterian Church in Ireland,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy immediate priority and that of the PSNI is the protection and the safeguarding of anyone who may have been affected.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said he had established an investigation team under the supervision of an experienced senior investigating officer from the Public Protection Branch to lead what would be a criminal investigation.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe role of the PSNI will be to investigate all criminal offences and to work closely with statutory partners under joint arrangements, to ensure victims can access the criminal justice process, and perpetrators are held to account.\u201d<\/p>\n

Commissioner designate for Victims of Crime, Geraldine Hanna, who also attended the press conference, said it was crucial for those affected to access the support and services they need.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt the heart of this story are individuals who have been let down by one of the most important institutions in their lives,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cTheir voice and their wellbeing must be the central driving force for the police and all other agencies involved in this process.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A dedicated team of senior detectives in the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) is to lead a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":186453,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[956,663,9,10,13,14,6,11,12,15,16,5,954,952,7,8,65,66,67],"class_list":{"0":"post-186452","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world","8":"tag-an-garda-siochana","9":"tag-belfast","10":"tag-breaking-news","11":"tag-breakingnews","12":"tag-featured-news","13":"tag-featurednews","14":"tag-headlines","15":"tag-latest-news","16":"tag-latestnews","17":"tag-main-news","18":"tag-mainnews","19":"tag-news","20":"tag-northern-ireland","21":"tag-police-service-of-northern-ireland-psni","22":"tag-top-stories","23":"tag-topstories","24":"tag-world","25":"tag-world-news","26":"tag-worldnews"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/115568699482829347","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/186452","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=186452"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/186452\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/186453"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=186452"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=186452"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=186452"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}