Pat Rabbitte (Dublin South West, Labour)

I agree with the Taoiseach's remarks about Bishop Walsh, who seems to have transformed the climate in Ferns. Would the Taoiseach confer the authority of his office on a committee of the House, comprising the Oireachtas Joint Committees on Health and Children and Education and Science, to hold the joint hearings to which I referred on this report?

The Taoiseach says that the commitments given on the diocese of Dublin "still stand" but these date back to 2002. Some of the allegations in the Dublin diocese are, if possible, more horrific and ghoulish than the allegations made in Ferns and it is important that the Minister establish an inquiry into them without delay.

Is the Taoiseach satisfied that the attitude of the Department of Education and Science, the former health boards and the Garda Síochána, bodies to which significant blame attaches, has changed? He referred to what has happened since 1990 but before then it appears many gardaí would not even investigate this area. It seems that churchmen at the most senior level were made aware of the problem. For example, the dean whose complaint about the President of Maynooth College was passed on to the college's 17 trustees — the bishops — was despatched to a rural parish in Armagh.

This is an appalling period in our history and it is important that the Taoiseach and the Government are seen to respond to it with the rigour the people expect and the situation requires.

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