Report criticises abuse cover-up

Last updated at 14:36 GMT, Thursday, 26 November 2009

A damning report into clerical child abuse in the Dublin archdiocese has criticised the church authorities for covering up the abuse.

The 700-page report investigated how Church and state authorities handled allegations of child abuse against 46 members of the clergy.

The report found that the church placed its own reputation above the protection of children in its care.

Abuse victims have welcomed the report.

The "Report of the Commission of Investigation into the Catholic Archdiocese of Dublin" examined a period spanning more than six decades and has laid bare a culture of concealment where church leaders prioritised the protection of their own institution above that of vulnerable children in their care.

Instead of reporting the allegations to civic authorities, those accused of horrific crimes were systematically shuffled from parish to parish where they could prey on new, unsuspecting victims.

The avoidance of public scandal which would inevitably follow high-profile prosecutions was more important it seems, than preventing abusers of repeating their crimes.

More follows.