A serving member of the Defence Force has spoken out about pay parity for overtime duties ahead of Pope's visit.

Pope Francis must agree to release all secret files on how the Church covered up child abuse since the early 1960s if he wants his historic meeting with victims to avoid being labelled a “tokenistic, box-ticking PR exercise”.

The identities of around 1,000 Irish Catholic clergy against whom credible allegations of child sexual abuse have been made are being kept secret under laws and practices that continue to hurt victims and endanger children, it has been claimed.

One of the country’s main organisations for assisting sex abuse survivors has launched its first crowdfunding effort after debate over the visit of Pope Francis led to a doubling of first-time callers seeking help.

Irish businesses are being approached by the Catholic Church to help cover the cost of the Pope's visit here later this year.