But it said it needs time and space to consider the matter and will be making no further comment until the process is complete.
Calls mounted this week for the exhumation of the bishop’s remains, which were interred in 2017 in the crypt beneath Galway’s Cathedral of Our Lady Assumed into Heaven and St Nicholas, after an RTÉ documentary last Monday – Bishop Casey’s Buried Secrets- revealed that Catholic authorities received four separate complaints of child sexual abuse against Casey, and other ‘child safeguarding’ concerns.
It was revealed in 1992 that Casey, who was bishop of Kilmacduagh and Galway from 1976 to 1992, had defrauded the Galway diocese of £70,000 to support a son, Peter, that he had fathered with American woman, Annie Murphy, in the early 1970s.
But Casey’s niece, Patricia Donovan, told the documentary aired on RTÉ last Monday that she had been raped and sexually assaulted by Casey from when she was aged five, and that the abuse carried on for more than a decade.
She said some of the alleged assaults happened in Galway Cathedral and at the Bishop’s residence in the city.
The documentary also revealed that Casey was formally removed from public ministry in 2007 by the Vatican, following "allegations" which included Ms Donovan’s complaint of child sexual abuse.
programme was flooded with callers in the days after the documentary was broadcast with many calling for Casey’s remains to be exhumed from the cathedral crypt and buried elsewhere.
One caller said: “I can’t see how I would ever stand in that building again as long as that man is buried there”, describing it now as a “temple of evil”.
In a statement on Saturday, the Galway Diocese said the interment of Bishop Casey in the cathedral crypt now requires a period of careful consideration and consultation, which has already begun.
The statement read: “Bishop Michael Duignan, in his statement last Tuesday, July 23, relating to the life and legacy of Bishop Eamonn Casey, clearly expressed his commitment to 'working with anybody affected, to help bring truth, healing and peace to such terribly painful situations’.
“In this context, the internment of the remains of Bishop Casey in the crypt beneath Galway Cathedral is a very sensitive issue that deeply affects people in different ways, and which has different facets.
“The interment of Bishop Casey in the Cathedral crypt now requires a period of careful consideration and consultation, which has already begun.
“Time and space are required to adequately and appropriately bring this undertaking to completion.
"We will not be making any further public comment until we are in a position to provide an update.”
Garda Commissioner Drew Harris has requested the Garda National Protective Services Bureau examine the original investigation file into Bishop Casey.