Three bishops made significant errors of judgment when allegations of child sexual abuse were made against priests, a Catholic Church watchdog has found.

IRISH bishops last night condemned government proposals to lower the age of sexual consent to 16.

A PRIEST has stepped down from duties in a parish in the mid-west amid allegations of child abuse.

The Bishop of Limerick Dr Donal Murray has said that child abuse has been a sad and tragic reality and everything possible must be done to ensure that it does not happen again.

A policeman who bludgeoned to death his wife and two children with a claw hammer will be buried separately.