State has been slow to get own house in order

NOT all those who support the Fine Gael Party, nor all members of that party, approve of the tone of the Taoiseach’s recent address to the Dáil.

The Taoiseach has, rightly, in trenchant terms condemned the diocesan administration in Cloyne for utterly failing to deal with accusations of clerical child abuse.

While acknowledging that nothing can heal the pain of the sufferers, it was very necessary that the hurt of the victims be recognised by the state in the person of its political leader, the Taoiseach. All right thinking people are appalled by the contents of that report and the pain and shame felt by us, the Irish people, that some in our midst perpetrate such appalling misdeeds under the cover of the official Church, is felt even more by the great majority of priests and religious who have done nothing but good in the name of Jesus Christ throughout their lives.