The opposition said Minister for Children Barry Andrews should not “abdicate responsibility for his role in failing to protect children” in light of recent reports on allegations of clerical abuse in the Diocese of Cloyne.

Fine Gael spokesman on children, Alan Shatter, said the state’s child protection measures are not working.

“The minister is right when he says that society as a whole must be confident that allegations of child abuse are dealt with speedily and professionally and that our children deserve better,” he said.

“The sad reality is that, at present, there can be no confidence in the state’s child protection services properly and speedily responding on all occasions and providing essential services required for children reported to be at risk,” said Mr Shatter.

The Government was also accused of failing to implement many recommendations in the Ferns Report into allegations of clerical abuse in Wexford.

“It has failed to enact legislation for the mandatory reporting of allegations of child abuse which is essential to ensure no repetition of the circumstances that arose both in Cloyne and in Ferns,” said Mr Shatter.

He said the Government has also failed to implement recommendations made last September by the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Children’s Rights that legislation be published prior to Christmas 2008 to allow for the use of “soft information” in vetting procedures relating to individuals working with children.

The lack of such legislation was the reason given by bishops for not answering one section of the HSE audit of child protection measures in the Church, published yesterday.

“Despite his presence on that committee, Deputy Andrews never informed members of the committee that such legislation was deemed essential by Church authorities to facilitate the furnishing of the information withheld by them in respect of the questions raised in Section 5 of the HSE audit,” said Mr Shatter.

“The minister concealing this from the committee, and the Government’s failure to date to publish the required legislation, starkly illustrates that their record on child protection issues lacks credibility and is indefensible,” he said.