Victims' group calls for cover-up bishops to quit

Catholic bishops are being urged to finally admit to their role in a systematic cover-up of child sex abuse.

Victims' support group One in Four wants all bishops who failed to report allegations of abuse by their priests to resign immediately.

It comes as the Bishops' Conference meets in Maynooth today where the fallout of the Murphy Commission report into the handling of abuse cases in the Dublin Archdiocese is set to top the agenda.

One in Four spokesperson Maeve Lewis says the bishops at the centre of this controversy shouldn't wait to be hounded out of office.

"The Church will only accept the appalling cover-ups that existed when public scrutiny forces them to do so," Ms Lewis said.

"What we are asking the bishops as they start their winter meeting is to be proactive, to come out with their hands up and acknowledge that this was part of a cover-up; that this was part of Church policy; this is not about mistakes but is part of a deliberate strategy to protect the Church."