The Catholic primate, Archbishop Seán Brady, said Ireland's bishops will "fully co-operate with any inquiry [into clerical child sex abuse] set up by the State."
In a pastoral letter to the people of the Armagh archdiocese yesterday, he said "the safety of children, the welfare of victims and the common good are our supreme concerns and shall be the sole determining factors" in the carrying out of the independent audit announced by the bishops last week. This was "so that the truth can be established", he said.
The bishops' "sincere words must be backed up by appropriate action". He also thanked victims for "their defence of the vast majority of priests who are blameless in these matters" which "has been greatly appreciated by clergy".
In a pastoral letter read at all Masses in the Dublin archdiocese over the weekend, Cardinal Desmond Connell said it was "in the interests of all of us that anyone abused by a priest or religious should speak up". He also said: "We must acknowledge that they [victims] have too often had to do it [speak up] in the face of quite inadequate responses on the part of the church."
It was "above all actions that are required", he said. "We have taken action. We will take whatever further action is necessary. There can be no flinching in the face of our duty, required as a matter of human integrity and Christian truth. But it is right that I should end by expressing my own deep regret for the inadequacies with which this matter has been dealt with in the diocese."
In a statement on Saturday, issued in response to allegations made by Ms Marie Collins on RTÉ's Prime Time programme on April 2nd, Cardinal Connell accepted she "has been justified in the most fundamental of these criticisms". He offered her his "heartfelt apology". His statement is published in full elsewhere on these pages.
Ms Collins was abused by Father Paul McGennis at Our Lady's Hospital for Sick Children in Dublin in 1960, where he was chaplain and she was a 13-year- old patient. Last night, responding to the Cardinal's statement, she said she was "very relieved that he, at last, has acknowledged my criticisms as justified". She accepted his apology, but was "only sorry it took such huge media pressure for him to do so".
Her "whole worry was that if they were protecting one priest like that, they could have done so or might be doing so in other cases too". She had "never wanted to hurt the church anyway".