Irish report condemns 'cover-up' of child abuse by Catholic church

Dublin - The Irish government Thursday vowed to bring pedophile priests to justice after a new report revealed that the Roman Catholic Church had covered up the "systematic abuse" of children while the state turned a blind eye. The report by a long-running commission published at the end of a three-year probe concluded that "hundreds of crimes" were committed against defenseless children in the diocese of Dublin between 1975 and 2004.

It said the Catholic Church hierarchy in Ireland was "granted immunity to cover up child sex abuse" while the authorities enjoyed a "cosy relationship with the church."

Justice Minister Dermot Ahern, who offered a government apology for what happened, said that the offenders would be brought to court regardless of the time that has passed.

"The persons who committed these dreadful crimes - no matter when they happened - will continue to be pursued. They must come to know that there is no hiding place. That justice - even where it may have been delayed - will not be denied," said Ahern.

The inquiry, which examined a total of 100,000 files, was based on a sample of complaints involving 320 children and 46 priests, of whom 11 have already been convicted.

It revealed that four former archbishops did not pass on the information they were given on the abuse cases to the authorities and alleged that the police treated the clergy "as though they were above the law."

The state authorities had facilitated the cover-up by failing to ensure that the law was applied equally to all and by permitting the church institutions to be "beyond the reach of the normal law enforcement process."

The report found that children were beaten, humiliated and raped. It listed one priest as having abused more than 100 children and said another had admitted abuse on a fortnightly basis during his 25-year ministry.

In May, a separate report detailed decades of abuse in schools, borstals and reformatories run by religious orders, affecting thousands of children.

"There is no escaping the cruel irony that the Church, partly motivated by a desire to avoid scandal, in fact created a scandal on an astonishing scale," said Ahern.

"In many cases, the welfare of children counted for nothing and abusers were left free to abuse - to visit evil on the innocent," he added.