Cowen’s craven response to Vatican

JUST when we thought the Murphy report might shake the Taoiseach from his semi-comatose and detached state, he made a statement that would have been worthy of the most craven utterances of deference during Archbishop John Charles McQuaid’s regime.

The Vatican, via its ambassador, refused to respond to requests from the commission for information, though the prevalence of “mental reservation” (lying to you and me) among the hierarchy suggests it would have had little value.

Nonetheless, it was a deeply insulting attitude for one state to adopt towards another.