Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)

I am a member of the Catholic Church and note that, in recent days, devout Catholics who have followed the teachings of their church faithfully over very many years are appalled by this position. They want their church to be a church of the future with a future. The symbolism of change is very important.

The Archbishop of Dublin said in his pastoral letter on Sunday that child abuse was and always is a crime in civil law and Canon Law. Those in positions of authority who knowingly moved paedophile priests from parish to parish, thereby allowing them to perpetrate their crimes and destroy children's innocence, should not continue in positions of authority.

Consider the communications between the Murphy commission and the papal nuncio and Vatican. It is discourteous that the papal nuncio did not respond to the two letters sent to him by the Murphy commission. The Vatican, through the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, responded to the Department of Foreign Affairs indicating the communication was not made through the proper channel. In light of this response, what action was taken by the then Minister for Foreign Affairs, who happens to be the current Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform and the Minister who presented the Murphy report some days ago? The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith is the equivalent in the Vatican of the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform. The Department of Foreign Affairs and the Minister were actively making contact with the British Government and British ambassador about the Barron and McEntee inquiries into the Dublin and Monaghan bombings, yet how is it that, in respect of this sensitive issue concerning the destruction of the innocence and lives of vulnerable children, there was no response from the political end of the Department of Foreign Affairs to the response from the Vatican that contact had not been made through the correct channel? Did the Minister for Foreign Affairs know about this? Was the Government informed of the response from the Vatican? Why was no action taken in respect of information in files from the Archdiocese of Dublin submitted to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith in Rome? The lack of action was such that the grievous and evil circumstances that obtained were allowed to continue.

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