Any official inquiry into the Catholic bishops' handling of child sex abuse complaints could lead to a Church-State clash over confidential diocesan files. Patsy McGarry and Alison O'Connor report.
Church sources indicated last night there could be difficulties about diocesan offices handing over files on priest offenders.
Such a breach of the church's confidentiality code could inhibit the conduct of its own internal inquiries and might frustrate the removal and treatment of clerical offenders, church sources said.
Government sources were anxious last night not to be seen as having made a decision on the form of any State inquiry until the Minister for Health, Mr Martin, meets with clerical sex abuse victims tonight in Kilkenny.
One possibility which is being considered by the Government is the appointment of a senior barrister to report on how best to investigate the handling of clerical sex abuse cases by the church.
Full co-operation by the Catholic Church is seen as crucial to the success of any inquiry. The victims said yesterday that they were concerned at the response of the church authorities so far.
At a press conference in Dublin yesterday, Mr Colm O'Gorman - who was abused by paedophile priest Sean Fortune - said he had been "treated with contempt" by both Cardinal Connell and Archbishop Brady, when they said they did not have enough detail about this case to comment.
He said it would be refreshing if the Vatican did not accept Bishop Comiskey's resignation, "and instead instructed him to help any inquiry." The leader of Fine Gael, Mr Michael Noonan, said yesterday he believed an independent inquiry should be established.
Meanwhile, the Archbishop of Dublin, Cardinal Desmond Connell, was still not commenting last night on allegations by Ms Marie Collins that the archdiocese had not co-operated with a Garda investigation into her abuse by Father Paul McGennis at Our Lady's Hospital for Sick Children, Crumlin, in 1960.
She also said the Cardinal had told her the Irish Bishops' Conference's 1996 guidelines on dealing with complaints about child sex abuse, had no force in civil or canon law over "obligations of confidentiality". It is understood the Cardinal and his communications advisers had a number of meetings on the matter yesterday.