Presbyterian Church to hold Belfast assembly on safeguarding failings update

The Presbyterian Church in Ireland is to hold its second congregation-wide meeting in Belfast to hear an update on failings in safeguarding processes.

The Special General Assembly on Wednesday will address a range of issues, with ministers and a representative elder from each of the all-Ireland denomination’s 500-plus congregations entitled to attend the meeting.

Members will receive an update on safeguarding and progress regarding the General Council task groups that were set up as a result of decisions taken at December’s Special Assembly.

At that assembly, David Bruce, a retired minister and Convener of the General Council, said questions around safeguarding at the church “became much more acute” in 2025 when a person was convicted of child sexual abuse offences and was imprisoned.

Speaking ahead of the meeting on Wednesday, Dr Bruce said, “As we move forward from November’s announcement of our central safeguarding failures, and decisions taken at our December Special General Assembly, it is important that we update the Church on what has been done in the intervening weeks, and this will be part of my report.”

He added: “Alongside the update on progress, there are two principal items of business before today’s meeting.

“When the Moderator, Dr Murray, called this Special Assembly he said that it would consider the ceremonial and reporting aspects of our General Assembly in June and the ‘urgent matter of approving the appointment process of a new Clerk of the General Assembly’, and these will be discussed.

“While there won’t be, at this stage, items of business regarding safeguarding, or other reports from the various task groups established by December’s Special Assembly, the business before us today is more than simple ‘housekeeping’.”

“The role of Clerk of the General Assembly, for example, is an historic position within our denomination, to which we are proposing, significant changes,” Dr Bruce said.

The former Moderator concluded by saying: “In all that we do, we remain deeply mindful of those who have been hurt or harmed as a result of our failings.

“As I said at December’s Special Assembly, our starting point was and remains a profound concern for those who have been harmed, or impacted by our institutional failings, which I described as shameful.

“It is also important that we also recognise during our discussions the ongoing criminal investigation by the Police Service of Northern Ireland.”