The Christian Brothers have criticised RT╔ for showing "lack of balance" in its two-part Prime Time series this week on alleged child abuse carried out by members of the Order outside of the State.
In a statement last night, the Christian Brothers said they had "a sense of outrage at the possibility that children suffered the type of abuse described" but were "in no position to speak about issues relating to Australia and Canada".
With respect to the situation in the State, the Brothers said they were co-operating fully with all inquiries and investigations including the Laffoy Commission.
While this had yet to conclude its investigations, they said, "RT╔ appears to have no difficulty pre-empting this work.
"We wish to express our dissatisfaction with the lack of balance in the programmes and we roundly reject many of the inferences drawn. In particular, we refute the allegation in the programmes of systemic corruption in the congregation."
Meanwhile, the Laffoy Commission announced yesterday it was seeking a three-year extension to allow it handle a dramatic rise in the number of people seeking to give evidence.
In an interim report the commission said its caseload had almost doubled since last May to more than 3,000.
Of 1,957 cases before the body's investigative committee, only five have been processed to date. Of these, two were completed, one postponed and two withdrawn.
Of 1,192 cases before an evidence-gathering, confidential committee, 254 have been processed. This total includes 100 people from the UK, seven from the US/Canada and four from Australia.
Some 72 per cent of submissions to the investigative committee were from men and a third came from outside the State. At the confidential committee there was a more even spread of submissions, with 55 per cent of them coming from men and 45 per cent from women. Some 59 per cent of submissions were from people over the age of 50.
Established in June 2000, the Commission was due to have completed its work within two years. It is now expected to run until at least 2005.