Madam, - Your edition of January 2nd quotes Cardinal Seán Brady as saying in a recent statement: "At all times the welfare of children must be the paramount consideration."
On the following day Patsy McGarry reports ("Bishops refuse to reveal all allegations of child abuse") that no Catholic bishop in the country could complete a HSE questionnaire which requested the kind of information that led to the NBSC's verdict that the diocese of Cloyne's child safeguarding practices were "inadequate and in some respects dangerous" in July of last year.
Is Cardinal Brady aware that since the meaning of "paramount" in this context is "more important than anything else", survivors of clerical abuse are now wondering if they can believe a word he or any other Irish bishop says? If some supposed legal obstacle is preventing Irish bishops from passing to the civil authorities information that could save any Catholic child from future abuse, it is obviously this consideration that is paramount for all of them - not the safety of children. - Yours, etc,