Why the Taoiseach played down child abuse scandal

THE Taoiseach could only express disappointment at the appalling figures of clerical child abuse within the Catholic Church in the Republic, as revealed in the Ferns report.

A measly word for what he surely would have regarded as something of epidemic proportions if it had happened in any other country.

Let’s be quite clear, we are talking about a very small country here: over 20 clerical abusers already documented in the Ferns report - and no doubt very many more to be revealed across the country. This cannot be regarded as anything other than the biggest scandal in the history of the country.