I write with regard to the female religious orders expressing regret and distress to Teresa Devlin, CEO, of the National Board for Safeguarding Children over the harshness of the regime that their orders oversaw.

A Catholic priest who admitted accessing child pornography was allowed to rise to a senior position in his order and remained in the post until recently.

IT is disheartening, and unacceptable, that some male religious congregations have yet to comply with the Catholic Church’s child protection guidelines.

New historical allegations of child sex abuse by priests in the Kerry diocese have been received since a report on clerical abuse in the diocese was published just over a year ago.

Pope Francis has accepted the resignation of Cardinal Sean Brady, the leader of the Catholic Church in Ireland.

The number of priests formally accused of sexually abusing children in the country’s biggest Catholic diocese over the past 40 years has topped 100, according to the latest figures.

Many priests who admit to or who are found guilty of child sex abuse also have addictions, feel isolated or unfulfilled, while others are narcissistic or worryingly needy, according to the Church’s child protection watchdog.

Christine Buckley, who died yesterday, was a lifelong campaigner for survivors of institutional abuse.

The former head of the Catholic Church’s child protection watchdog fears a “desire” exists within the Church hierarchy to limit “by covert means” the role of the safeguarding board.

The Minister for Children described the number of child sex abuse allegations against the Christian Brothers as "chilling".

There can hardly be an Irish person, certainly not an Irish Catholic, whose perception of the institution of the Catholic Church has not been shaped by the child sexual abuse scandals and all of the shabby, criminal efforts made to cover them up.

The Bishop of Clonfert has denied claims he had known that a priest he had moved from his parish due to child sex allegations had gone on to abuse children elsewhere.

In summer last year, Senator Mark Daly used parliamentary privilege to name an alleged child abuser. Here, he explains the choices with which he was faced

A Dublin priest has said that if an audit were done of every religious congregation in the country, many more cases of child abuse - and their cover-up - would be revealed.

A total of 18 allegations of sexual abuse were made against 10 priests in the Diocese of Kildare and Leighlin over the past 37 years.

The scandal of clerical sex abuse has been in the public arena for such a long time that people are in danger of becoming inured to what went on in the Catholic church in a shocking chapter of Irish history.

An audit of child safeguarding practices at the diocese of Cork and Ross has found that 26 priests had allegations of abuse made against them between 1975 and 2011.

Seven reports into child safe-guarding practices in the Catholic church will be published this morning.

Gardaí have interviewed 17 men who claim they were sexually abused while attending a college on the outskirts of Cork.

VICTIMS of clerical abuse in Cloyne have said they will co-operate with the Church’s secret canonical tribunal into the actions of Fr Ronat, a North Cork priest who was the subject of 11 complaints of abuse in the Cloyne report.

Priests suspected of child sex abuse over more than three decades were not robustly challenged or properly managed, the watchdog's report into the Derry diocese said.

The Pope has accepted the resignation of Bishop of Derry Seamus Hegarty, who has been forced to step down due to ill health.

Bishop Edward Daly has said he was shocked by the news his successor the Bishop of Derry Dr Seamus Hegarty is to step down for health reasons at the age of 71.

PARISHIONERS in a south Kilkenny village were stunned on Saturday when the local bishop turned up for evening Mass to tell them their parish priest was taking a leave of absence while an allegation of abuse against him was investigated.

Former Bishop of Cloyne John Magee has asked for forgiveness for failing to protect children and investigate paedophile priests.

The Bishop of Raphoe has dismissed a newspaper article about the contents of a report into allegations of clerical child sex abuse in a Co Donegal diocese

THE first complaint of sexual abuse against the former principal of Carrignavar College and Cork GAA selector, Fr Donncha Mac Cárthaigh, was investigated by his brother, who was then the head of his order in Ireland.

A MONK at Glenstal Abbey boarding school in Limerick has been removed from contact with students following an allegation of sexual abuse of a minor in England.

THE Cloyne report into clerical child sex abuse has exposed the “dysfunction, disconnection, elitism and narcissism” at the heart of the Vatican, Enda Kenny has said in a blistering denunciation of the Holy See.

A “CABAL” in the Catholic Church hierarchy has refused to recognise decades-old procedures for reporting abuse cases, undermining transparency and putting children in grave danger of attacks.

ABRAHAM Lincoln was plagued with bad generals.

WHILE there was no allegation of child sexual abuse made against Fr Naal, or evidence to support such an allegation, the commission said the failure to carry out a proper inquiry was wrong from a child protection point of view.

The Irish Bishops Conference in 1996 lay out the procedures for handling allegations and suspicions of clerical child sex abuse in a document entitled “Child Sexual Abuse: Framework for a Church Response.”

Structures have been put in place to ensure the devastating revelations of the Cloyne Report never happen again, the cleric overseeing the diocese pledged tonight.

Senator Jillian van Turnhout of the Children's Rights Alliance has said the Cloyne abuse report highlights how children were "continually failed" by adults.

THE report into clerical sex abuse in the Catholic archdiocese of Cloyne is expected to heavily criticise Bishop John Magee, in line with a previous inquiry by the Church’s own watchdog.

A long-awaited report into the handling of clerical child sex abuse allegations in the Diocese of Cloyne is due to be made public within weeks.

SCHOOLS that are unable to justify their use of CCTV will be ordered to remove it, the Data Protection Commissioner has warned.

IT is deeply troubling that the 2010 Annual Report of the National Board for Safeguarding Children reveals that the review of child safeguarding practices in each diocese, which the Hierarchy requested the board to commence in 2009, has been thwarted by them for over two years.

The Vatican told bishops around the world today it was important to co-operate with police in reporting priests who abuse children and said they should develop guidelines for preventing attacks.

A PARISH priest in Co Galway is under investigation following an allegation involving a child in the 1980s.

An allegation has been made against a parish priest regarding "child safeguarding" issues.

THE long-awaited report into the handling of child sex abuse cases in the Diocese of Cloyne will not be published until at least the second week in May.

CHILD protection officers in the country’s 26 dioceses have received training in recent months on how much information to give to alleged abusers following the scandal in Cloyne where victim statements were handed to an accused priest before a garda interview.