The Dublin archdiocese's preoccupations in dealing with cases of child sex abuse . . . were the maintenance of secrecy, the avoidance of scandal, the protection of the reputation of the church and the preservation of assets. - Report of the Commission of Investigation into the Catholic Archdiocese of Dublin.
We do not have a culture of accountability in this country and those in authority, who recklessly endanger children, act with impunity. This must change.
- Maeve Lewis, director of One in Four, an organisation that campaigns on behalf of victims of clerical sex abuse.
No government can guarantee that in the future there won't be evil people who will do evil things . . . The bottom line is this: a collar will protect no criminal. - Minister for Justice Dermot Ahern.
The sexual abuse of a child is and always was a civil crime. It is and always was a crime in canon law. - Archbishop Diarmuid Martin.
You may be put in a position where you have to answer, and there may be circumstances in which you can use an ambiguous expression realising that the person who you are talking to will accept an untrue version of whatever it may be - permitting that to happen, not willing that it happened. - Cardinal Desmond Connell on how to lie with a clear conscience.