The Archbishop of Dublin Dr Diarmuid Martin has admitted that "a cabal" protecting clerical sex abusers may be operating at the highest levels in the Catholic Church.
Dr
Martin said: "There may be a cabal in Cloyne. They may have friends in
other parts of the Irish Church. They may have friends in Irish
society. There may be friends in the Vatican."
Asked yesterday
who was preventing the protection of children, he said: "The numbers
that are involved in this are few. The damage that these people cause
is horrendous. It's for all of us to see where they are, but in the
long term I have to take the responsibility that in Dublin there are not
cabals who reject our child protection laws."
"Everybody knows
there are people who have challenged what I do, there are people who
challenge what the Diocese does, people challenge what the national
norms are. They exist. The way we get out of the cabals is by those of
us who are convinced of what we are doing, being strong together."
His
comments come as a national audit of clerical sex abuse by the gardai's
sexual crime unit is expected to reveal a huge volume of complaints
against priests dating back 80 years when it is completed within
months.
Yesterday in a long-awaited response the Vatican said it
was "sorry and ashamed" of what happened in the Irish church, but
denied it aided a cover up.
The Tanaiste Eamon Gilmore
said yesterday: "I remain of the view that the 1997 letter from the
Nuncio provided a pretext for some to avoid full cooperation with the
Irish civil authorities.
"The sexual abuse of children is such a
heinous and reprehensible crime that issues about the precise status
of documents should not be allowed to obscure the obligation of people
in positions of responsibility to deal promptly with such abuse and
report it."