Cardinal and minister need to hold themselves to account and resign

I WOULD be grateful if you or your readers could explain how two of the leading figures in Irish public life have reached their exalted positions while displaying a level of self-importance and egomania second to none. They are the Cardinal Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of All-Ireland, Seán Brady, and Health Minister Mary Harney.

In the case of Cardinal Brady, he must by now realise that outside his own local congregation and his “brother” bishops he has completely lost the confidence, trust and affection of the vast majority of Catholics on this island.

Regardless of the measures introduced by the church hierarchy to ensure there will never be a repeat of the appalling crimes committed by clergy against children, there still hangs over the cardinal the spectre of him compelling two young people to take an oath of secrecy which brings to mind a scene reminiscent of the Inquisition.