The Catholic Church in Ireland has appointed a Presbyterian as the head of its child protection unit.
Ian Elliot, Director of the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children in Belfast, is to become the first Chief Executive of the Church's National Board for Child Protection.
When he takes up his duties in a month's time, he will have completed two years on secondment to Northern Ireland's civil service where he has led a major reform programme for child protection services.
Church sources say he is the first non-Catholic to be appointed to such a senior post in Irish Catholicism.
