Mary White (Fianna Fail)

Ms Justice Yvonne Murphy's report highlights the culture of secrecy and the covering up of sex abuse scandals in the Dublin archdiocese. Archbishops of Dublin did little or nothing to protect children from paedophile priests. The record of collusion and cover-up and dereliction of duty by church and State authorities is beyond belief. Thousands of children raped and abused by Catholic priests, many of them serial offenders, in the Dublin diocese over a period of 30 years. The allegations of abuse were completely mishandled by both church and State authorities.

The report is severely critical of the way in which abuse complaints were dealt with and covered up by some of the most senior figures in the hierarchy in the archdiocese. The inquiry into the Dublin archdiocese also concluded that the State authorities, including the Garda Síochána, facilitated the cover-up of the actions of abusive clergy by failing to fulfil its responsibilities to ensure that the law be applied equally to all. These are not acts of omission due to lack of knowledge or even neglect; the cover-up was deliberate and proactive. The moral authority of the church has been completely eroded and questions will inevitably follow as to whether it is appropriate for the church to have control over matters such as the education of children in schools.

For the sake of fairness and justice, it is now imperative that the remit of the commission be extended to all Irish dioceses. What happened in Dublin and Ferns may well have happened elsewhere. In those few dioceses that have been investigated, serious failings and similar patterns of wrongdoing have emerged. As abuse survivor, Marie Collins, said last week, the victims in the remaining Irish dioceses - and there are many of them - also deserve justice. She called for the dioceses in which they lived to be fully investigated as to how individual dioceses handled abuse allegations. We must now complete the process begun and hear the voices of survivors of abuse in every county.

The crime of paedophilia is as serious, if not more serious, than murder. The people and the clergy who covered up should be put on trial for the torture they have inflicted on children. Those who have been sexually abused suffer traumatic and lifelong effects. Many die from suicide and many take to alcohol, have failed marriages and many never get their life in order as a result of what has happened to them.

When I was younger I used to believe that people who got jobs in the Civil Service, in Departments such as Education and Science, were very clever and highly intelligent. It is very disappointing, to say the least, that they did not have the moral courage to act when these reports were made to them. This is evident in both the Ryan report and in this recent report. As I said at the time of the publication of the Ryan report, there is a social class aspect in that judges handed down sentences to innocent young children. There is no doubt in my mind that deference was shown to departmental officials and to judges and most of all, to the Catholic church.