1987 The first set of guidelines on child abuse is published by the state.That same year, dioceses around the country take out insurance against allegations of abuse.
1988 UCD academic Desmond Connell is appointed archbishop of Dublin
1994 The Brendan Smyth scandal emerges after he is sentenced to four years in prison for abuse of children in Northern Ireland.
By November, the government has collapsed when divisions emerge between Labour and Fianna Fáil over the handling of extradition requests for the priest.
1995 Andrew Madden goes public about his abuse by Fr Ivan Payne. In November another notorious abuser, Fr Sean Fortune, is charged with child sexual abuse.
1999 Pope John Paul II rejects any link between child sexual abuse and celibacy.
The following year, the Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse is established to examine abuse of children in residential institutions and orphanages.
2002 The BBC's Suing the Pope programme about the abuse of boys in Ferns by Fortune is broadcast in March.
Bishop Brendan Comiskey resigns after it emerges he had covered up abuse.
RTE shows Cardinal Secrets, a programme about abuse in the Dublin archdiocese.
The state also agrees to a controversial indemnity deal with the religious orders following negotiations led by then education minister Michael Woods.
This would see 18 orders committing to contribute just €128m of the redress costs of around €1.1bn.
2003 Diarmuid Martin is named as archbishop of Dublin
2005 The Ferns report, which outlines extensive abuse and cover-up of child sexual abuse, is released in October. Judge Yvonne Murphy is nominated to chair the Commission of Investigation into abuse in the Dublin archdiocese.
2008 Desmond Connell refuses the Murphy Commission access to some 5,000 church documents, claiming they are confidential, but subsequently drops his High Court challenge.
March 2009 Bishop John Magee of Cloyne steps aside from his duties after it is revealed he did not follow proper child protection guidelines.
The government also extends the remit of the Murphy commission to the diocese of Cloyne.
May 2009 The Ryan report, which charts widespread abuse of children in Ireland's residential institutions system, is published. Following a public outcry, the 18 religious orders who signed up to the controversial 2002 redress deal agree to pay more.
November 2009 Judge Yvonne Murphy publishes a version of her report into the Dublin archdiocese, with some sections omitted for legal reasons.
It concludes that church leaders had covered up widespread abuse of children by priests over a 30-year period from 1975-2004.
February 2010 A "historic" meeting between the Irish bishops and Pope Benedict XVI in Rome prompts disappointment among survivors of abuse, who had hoped for a more concrete plan of action and apology.
Speaking after the meeting, Dublin archbishop Diarmuid Martin says it would be followed by Benedict's pastoral letter, and stresses that not everything happens at once.
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