Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)

The issue was that soft information was obviously not shared among parishes or dioceses or at an all-Ireland church level so that the children could be protected. When will the legislation to protect children and dealing with soft information be brought before the House?

Many of the serving bishops mentioned in the report are patrons of primary schools that are funded by the State, but under the patronage of the Catholic Church and other bodies. Does the Government plan to introduce any legislative changes to address this issue? Does the Taoiseach consider it appropriate for patrons, who have been identified in the report as having behaved wrongly when it came to trying to apprehend and stop paedophiles, to continue to be patrons?

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