Ireland's Catholic bishops have agreed in principle the structure, terms of reference and person to carry out an independent nationwide audit of the handling of complaints about clerical child sex abuse, according to a statement issued this evening.
The sex abuse crisis was the principal issue on the agenda of the three day summer meeting of the bishops that had been held at Maynooth, County Kildare.
The bishops say the audit is a "whole church" exercise and there will be further consultation before details are announced in a fortnight.
The proposals are being referred to the Conference of Religious in Ireland (CORI) and the Irish Missionary Union (IMU). The statement said all 34 bishops attended the meeting and the Papal Nuncio to Ireland, Archbishop Giuseppe Lazzarotto, was present for part of it.
The audit was first announced at a special extraordinary meeting of the bishops on April 8 that was called following the resignation of the Bishop of Ferns Dr Brendan Comiskey because of his handling of abuse by paedophile priests in his diocese.
A lawyer and former government minister George Birmingham is continuing his investigation into the handling of abuse cases involving priests in Ferns in the south east of the country.
Birmingham is expected to report to the government next month on what sort of official inquiry should be carried out.
Church officials have also revealed this month that three priests in Dublin and two priests in Ferns have been asked to "step aside" while allegations are investigated.
AFP