Five priests in the Diocese of Limerick, who were cleared by gardaí of child sexual abuse allegations, have been refused permission to return to ministry, according to the audit carried out by the National Board for Safeguarding Children in the Catholic Church (NBSCCC).

A long-serving bishop has sparked a storm of controversy over his fitness for the job after revealing he used to think paedophilia was friendship gone too far.

Ian Elliot, the head of the Catholic Church's own watchdog on child protection measures, has detailed the policies now in place to prevent child abuse.

THE Vatican has come under attack from priests in the Diocese of Limerick over the way it is going about finding a successor for Bishop Donal Murray who resigned in December 2009.

THE Cloyne abuse revelations make it clear that further investigations into child sex assaults by priests must be extended to the rest of the country, campaigners have said.

Former Bishop John Magee has apologised for failing the victims of abusive priests under his authority.

THE debate on the future role of the Catholic Church in primary education must be conducted in a spirit of openness, the Administrator of the Diocese of Limerick said yesterday.

Heartbroken Gaelic football manager Mickey Harte was profoundly moved today during an emotional gathering with the Dalai Lama, he revealed.

A cardinal, several bishops and gardaí face damning criticism tonight over revelations a serial paedophile priest was free to abuse for 16 years.

Archbishop of Dublin Diarmuid Martin today called for Irish society to show solidarity to get through the economic crisis.

The Government must reaffirm commitments to protect children on the first anniversary of the damning Murphy Report into clerical child sex abuse.

THE priest who has been administering the Diocese of Limerick since the resignation of Bishop Donal Murray said yesterday that he expected a new bishop to be installed “this side of Christmas”.

POPE Benedict XVI has accepted the resignation of the Bishop of Clogher, Dr Joseph Duffy, who, as Church law dictates, is stepping down having reached the age of 75.

POPE BENEDICT XVI has accepted the resignation of a third Irish bishop as a result of the Church’s handling of clerical child abuse.

Pope Benedict XVI has accepted the resignation of a third Irish bishop over the Catholic hierarchy’s handling of clerical child abuse, the Church confirmed today.

AN Garda Síochána are to seek the advice of the Attorney General about a possible High Court appeal against the decision to allow Limerick city pubs open on Good Friday.

The drip-feeding of disclosures needs to stop and a national inquiry launched, campaigners said tonight after another Irish bishop apologised for failing to deal properly with abuse allegations against a priest.

A second bishop was dramatically removed from the Catholic hierarchy over child sex abuse scandals tonight, with another three senior clerics expected to face the same fall from grace.

A Vatican meeting between Irish bishops and Pope Benedict XVI will enter its second day today with the past handling of child abuse scandals top of the agenda.

The authorities are paralysed to bring paedophile priests and the senior clerics who covered up decades of horrific abuse to justice, victims have claimed today.

A Vatican meeting between Irish bishops and Pope Benedict XVI gets under way today with the past handling of child abuse scandals on the agenda.

Survivors of clerical abuse tonight demanded leadership and accountability from Pope Benedict as bishops prepared for a major Vatican summit over the devastating scandals.

Catholic bishops gathered for an extraordinary general meeting today in the wake of the damning report into clerical child sex abuse in the Dublin archdiocese.

Irish bishops have been hauled before Vatican chiefs in the wake of devastating child abuse scandals, it was revealed today.

A PARISH priest has been temporarily appointed to manage the diocese of Limerick following the resignation of Bishop Donal Murray.

A LEADING theologian who called for all bishops named in the Murphy report to resign has backtracked, insisting the Bishop of Galway should not be forced from his post.

The last of five bishops named in an expose of the Catholic Church’s cover-up of child sex abuse will not resign, his spokesman said tonight.

Two more Bishops have resigned in the wake of the damning Murphy report.

A prominent priest has said Irish society is "morally bankrupt".

There is increasing pressure on the three remaining Bishops named in the Murphy report to resign.

PRESSURE is mounting on three serving bishops named in the Murphy report to step down from office after Bishop of Kildare and Leighlin James Moriarty announced he had offered his resignation to Pope Benedict XVI.

The Bishop of Kildare and Leighlin James Moriarty has offered his resignation to the Pope today.

There is speculation today that a second bishop criticised in the Murphy report is about to resign.

THE Pope must come to Ireland and hear directly from those who have been abused if there is to be any possibility of reforming the institution, a leading survivors’ group has claimed.

A BATTLE-WEARY Bishop of Galway Martin Drennan has said he will not be resigning his post unless he can no longer “be a source of unity” in the diocese.

The country’s Catholic hierarchy faced further damage tonight after an under-fire Bishop clashed with a colleague over a sickening child abuse scandal.

Primary Schools Principals are today calling for the bishops named in the Murphy report to resign their positions as school patrons.

VICTIMS support group One in Four has accused the Vatican of making a “wholly inadequate” response to the Murphy report and failing to accept responsibility for the cover-up of sexual abuse worldwide.

THE Archbishop of Dublin, Diarmuid Martin, has called for “radical reform” within the Church and once again urged bishops to take responsibility for their actions following the resignation yesterday of the Bishop of Limerick, Donal Murray.

THE Limerick diocese yesterday revealed how Bishop Donal Murray had informed senior priests in the diocese as far back as December 1 – just four days after the publication of the Murphy report – of his intention to resign.

DONAL MURRAY, now aged 69, was brought up in Mount Merrion in Dublin. His father, Tom, a native of Templederry in North Tipperary, was a senior civil servant who went on to become chairman of the ESB.

BISHOPS criticised in the Murphy report should not be allowed serve as school patrons or hospital board chairpersons, the Labour Party said last night.

MORE than 200 people, including about 50 priests, were present in St John’s Cathedral yesterday when Bishop Donal Murray announced his resignation.

ONE of the ragged comfort blankets wrapped around politicians dumped by the electorate, forced to resign or just fade into harmless obscurity is Enoch Powell’s crushing phrase “all political lives ... end in failure”.