National Case Management Committee

Learn more about the work of the National Case Management Committee.

The National Board for Safeguarding Children in the Catholic Church in Ireland following extensive consultation, established a National Case Management Committee (NCMC) in 2011. The need arose from a view that consistent quality advice should be available to Church authorities as some existing Advisory Panels had either become defunct, did not exist or did not have the expertise to fulfil the important role of advising a Church authority on the management of allegations against clerics and religious.

The role of the NCMC is set out in its Terms of Reference and you can read more about the members of the committee here (insert link to about us/ NCMC).  In particular committee members offer advice on:

(a) The initial complaint
(b) Fitness for ministry
(c) Management of risk
(d) Support for the complainant
(e) Management of the respondent

Membership is agreed through the signing of a data processing deed which allows the sharing of full information with the NCMC and is fully compliant with Data Protection Legislation. 

The NCMC is administered by Imelda Ashe from the National Board, but Imelda does not sit as a member on the panel. The members of the NCMC have all signed a confidentiality agreement as part of their tenure of office.

The initial meeting when cases were first heard took place in January 2012. 

Church authorities wishing to submit a case for discussion must fill in a Case Submission form  and submit it to imeldaashe@safeguarding.ie. Following discussion at the NCMC a completed Case Discussion form is sent to the Church authority.