THE SEXUAL abuse of children is a crime and is “not a matter of theology”, Tánaiste Eamon Gilmore has told the Dáil.

Responding to Independent TD Finian McGrath, who asked the Government’s response to the publication of the Vatican’s report on the Catholic Church in Ireland, Mr Gilmore said the report “is essentially a report by the church authorities on the church itself. Therefore it is not really a matter for the Government to have a view on it in so far as the report is about internal church matters.”

He added: “I should be clear that the sexual abuse of children, the rape of children, is a crime. It is not a matter of theology and it is not a matter which is exclusively in the domain of a church.” That was why the Government’s statement last September “made it very clear that crimes which have been committed against children are matters that should have been reported to the Garda and authorities and those who sought to obstruct such reportage were seriously wrong”.

Mr McGrath said the church apologises and expressed a sense of shame in the report prepared by seven teams sent to Ireland by the Vatican to examine religious congregations, seminaries, and the four archdioceses. However, despite this, he said it was fighting “tooth and nail to limit its financial exposure” to its victims.

Earlier, Minister for Children Frances Fitzgerald told Fianna Fáil spokesman on children Charlie McConalogue she was pleased the church intended to do further work with the victims of sexual abuse. The wrong done by those who abused and those who failed to exercise vigilance “can never be put right”, but the Minister said placing the protection of children above all other considerations was the “most important step that can be taken”.