Joe O'Toole (Independent)

We have witnessed enough of that in communist China with the Falun Gong and in communist Russia's refusal to allow Christians to practise their religion. We reached the giddy limit this week in Switzerland where a referendum was held on whether minarets could be put on top of mosques. That is where such calls lead and it is not our business.

However, we need to examine our republican principles and where we stand. The problem of child abuse cannot and should not be cordoned off as a problem with one bishop. This is a systemic issue and, as politicians, our function and duty is to safeguard children and to make sure every religious and lay person is amenable to and subject to the law of the land. That is our job and if there is anything wrong with the law, we amend it to make sure that happens.

Scapegoating a bishop is not the answer. The religious hierarchy intersects with the structures of child protection in the education system. For instance, if a pupil makes an allegation of abuse against a priest, the matter is eventually dealt with by the school patron who in 95% of cases, and more than 3,000 primary schools, is the local bishop. The bishop with responsibility for the investigation of an alleged abuse of a pupil finds himself, therefore, in the conflicted position of being the line manager of the priest and the patron of the child. That cannot continue.