Paul Coghlan (Fine Gael)

I welcome the Minister of State to the House. He has been very patient and has been here for a long time listening to this debate. Picking up on Senator Maurice Hayes's final point, I start by congratulating Mr. Justice Francis D. Murphy on his report. I also congratulate Bishop Walsh on the manner in which he handled the matter. The report was thorough and competent, as one would expect from such an eminent former Supreme Court judge. We now accept that the report's recommendations are being taken on board both by the church and the State. As everyone has said, the report's contents were horrifying and shocking. The victims who came forward displayed great courage and we do not forget the enormous personal trials they have endured. We congratulate them on their efforts in healing and getting over the hurt.

These are tough and difficult times for all the good priests in the church. They are genuinely deeply upset and have struggled with the issue. Many of us have heard the apologies through the letters from their bishops read at masses. They tendered their apologies to their flocks with great feeling and understanding. At one mass in my parish in Killarney, the priest struggled so much with it that the congregation fully identified with what he was saying and gave him a huge ovation.

We must not forget that the abuse was the work of a tiny minority. Undoubtedly some appalling abuses took place in the Ferns diocese. Abusers were simply transferred when discovered and pitched from pillar to post. Bishops did not seem to know how to handle the problem. That is understandable, because shocking and all as it was, they never had any training in how to deal with these matters and in some instances handled them appallingly badly.

Senator Maurice Hayes referred to a case crying out for redress, the case of Dr. McGinnity who was a senior dean in Maynooth, a position of great responsibility in the church. He handled the matter properly and when he became conscious of an issue that had become the butt of jokes among students in the college he conscientiously reported it. He thought it was wrong and should not be allowed to develop. It appears to me that the late Cardinal Ó Fiaich, a genuine sincere man, was bullied by his fellow bishops on that matter. The former bishop of Galway, Bishop Casey, seems to have been the only one who stood up for Dr. McGinnity. He deserves our thanks for doing so. Poor Dr. McGinnity got a sabbatical in Rome for his trouble and was removed from Maynooth and brought back to a diocesan office in Armagh, the diocese from which he came.