Taoiseach Micheál Martin has asked Pope Leo to pressure religious orders in Ireland to come forward with redress for survivors of sexual abuse at a meeting with the pontiff at the Vatican on Friday in which the two also discussed peace and the Middle East.
“I asked that every effort would be made to get the religious orders to engage proactively on the matter of redress,” Martin told reporters after the discussion in the pope’s private library.
He told the pontiff the Government had established a commission of inquiry into day and boarding schools, but some religious orders had yet to engage on the issue.
Martin said “some orders have come forward, but a lot of orders haven’t, and that assets are being sold, and that we want those assets allocated in revenues from them to redress”.
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Leo, who was elected just over a year ago, was “very clear and frank about the need for the church to take ownership and to be very clear in terms of supporting those who have been traumatised by abuse”, the Taoiseach said.
“We discussed that trauma is an enduring thing. It doesn’t end when you have an inquiry or when you have acknowledgment, it’s something that endures for the lifetime of an individual.”
The discussion also covered the pope’s advocacy for peace, and Martin said he offered the assistance of Irish officials who had experience with the Northern Ireland peace process in “any work that the Vatican is involved in, in terms of conflict resolution”.
“He was interested in the Irish experience,” Martin said, saying that Leo had an “affinity and empathy with Ireland”.
He said he told the pontiff that he would be very welcome to visit Ireland, though no commitments have been made.
Martin and his wife, Mary O’Shea, were greeted at the doorway of the Apostolic Palace as they arrived by official car for the visit, the first with Ireland’s head of Government since Leo took office.
It is one of a series of meetings as Martin holds talks with different European heads of state in the run-up to the start of the Irish presidency of the European Union in July.
Martin told the pope some countries, including many EU member states, were forming a united front to ensure “that multilateralism can hold”.
In a meeting afterwards with Italian prime minister Giorgia Meloni, Martin set out priority issues for the Irish presidency, including boosting EU competitiveness and seeking to end conflict in the Middle East.
Meloni said Ireland is assuming the presidency at a time when the EU is confronting “circumstances that are out of the control of individual member states, and require a collective response”.
She said the energy crisis was having a severe impact on families and businesses in Italy. She reiterated a call for the European Commission to relax spending rules to allow countries to respond to the crisis.
“I want to assure you of the support of Italy for the Irish presidency and wish you the best for the job ahead of you and quick, courageous, and pragmatic results for Ireland, Italy, and the EU as a whole,” Meloni told the Taoiseach.
Martin said the two had “very substantial discussions” on issues that would be worked on in the coming weeks and months.
However, in remarks to press, the two did not mention proposals backed by Ireland to ban EU trade with illegal Israeli settlements and to review the EU’s trade association agreement with Israel.
Political momentum for the EU to take action on trade with Israel has increased due to anger over the treatment of detained flotilla activists and frustration with broader Israeli policies, including continued obstacles to the entry of humanitarian aid into Gaza.
Italy is considered a key swing vote, as Rome’s opposition was previously key in preventing the suspension of the EU’s association agreement, but public sentiment is now seen as shifting to be more critical of Israel’s actions.
