Priests have welcomed the apostolic visitation’s acknowledgement that further work needs to be completed by the Catholic Church here to ensure that clerics on leave following abuse allegations are all being treated the same across the dioceses.

NEW guidelines are to be issued to the country’s 26 dioceses and archdioceses outlining how to best handle sending priests on leave in the event of a clerical abuse allegation.

The former head of the Catholic Church in England and Wales is one of five senior clerics appointed today to monitor child protection procedures in the church in Ireland.