When political parties or lobby groups commission research, they generally do so with the comfort of knowing that if it contains bad news, they just won't publish it, writes Breda O' Brien.
The Catholic Church in Ireland sought no such option when it commissioned research on sexual abuse of children by Catholic clergy.
The members of the Health Services Research Centre at the Department of Psychology of the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland (RCSI) who conducted the study, had a guarantee that all results, no matter how damning, would be published. So when Time to Listen was launched, there was a lot of bad news for the Catholic Church.
Take this quote from a victim. "Instead of helping, there was a fence at each step of the way. In many ways, I think that was worse than the abuse itself, because everything was a battle and every time you put your trust in someone, you were let down."
As Time to Listen points out, the moral authority which the church once held makes its transgressions much more painful for those who had put their trust in it, and it was often the children of religious and committed people who were abused, because they were most likely to be in regular contact with priests.
The report makes it clear that a lack of ability by the hierarchy to provide clear leadership added not only to the pain of victims, but to their families' suffering, and did damage to the morale of clergy. It gave clergy a safe space to express their deep dissatisfaction with the leadership of the church.
Irish people still value and support their local priest, but have become deeply sceptical about the wider institution. Uniquely, the research also allows us to hear the voices of "secondary victims" such as the families both of the abused and the abusers.
It might be said that we have heard all this before, but what is new about this report is that it is the fruit of rigorous research. Much of what we have learned in the past has been through the media, or books written by or with the assistance of journalists.
While the media did a valuable service in highlighting the issue, the report also points out that some of the ways in which the media focused their attention were problematic.
For example, while the public greatly overestimate the prevalence of abusers among clergy, they also greatly underestimated the numbers of priests and religious who have been convicted. The report suggests that, ironically, this might reflect the fact that media regularly revisit a small number of cases, so that, when it comes to estimating convictions, people might only recall the "famous cases".
The continual revisiting of certain cases has other consequences. Most victims do not relish telling and retelling their story. They only come forward to achieve justice and to prevent further damage to children.
Ken Reilly is one such courageous person, whose story was highlighted last year in RTÉ's Cardinal Secrets. Since the broadcast of the programme he has worked relentlessly, along with Marie Collins, to move the Catholic Church, and in particular the Archdiocese of Dublin, to a position where it responds to victims sensitively and appropriately.
The archdiocese is moving slowly in the right direction, with the appointment of a four-member team which includes two qualified laymen, Phil Garland, as director of child protection services, and Joseph McDonagh, as victim support person.
Ken was very happy with the way his interview was treated in Cardinal Secrets. However, he was deeply upset when video footage shot for Cardinal Secrets was reused this week by Prime Time in a clip preceding an interview with Archbishop Diarmuid Martin.
Out of a 2½-hour interview, the only piece chosen by RTÉ was Ken giving a graphic description of the nature of the abuse which he suffered at the hands of a priest.
Partly due to change in telephone numbers, he was only contacted about 1½ hours before broadcast, and he had no idea what was going to be used. He, his wife, and his mother were shattered by the almost casual way in which this piece was reused out of context.
The way in which it was edited suggested that Ken had retold the story of his abuse in the context of being interviewed about Archbishop Diarmuid Martin. In fact, the material had been shot some 16 months before, long before the new Archbishop's appointment. The major problem was using something so deeply personal and distressing without prior warning.
However, Ken also resents it being used like this, because it does not reflect his approval of the way in which Archbishop Martin has listened to victims. Ken has not made a formal complaint as yet to RTÉ. He says he feels there is no point as they do not listen and, "They have all the power".
Ironic, is it not, that the media sometimes mirror the insensitivity and inability to listen of another powerful institution, the church?
However, this report leaves little room for complacency in the wider society, either.
One of the lead authors, Prof Hannah McGee, made this point during the week, that it is deeply uncomfortable for society to realise that, when it comes to child abuse, "it is not strangers, it's not really clergy, it's not fathers behind closed doors, it's actually everybody."
The Sexual Violence and Assault in Ireland survey, of which Prof McGee is also an author, pointed to devastatingly high levels of sexual abuse in the population at large.
Ninety-seven per cent of sexual abuse is not perpetrated by clergy.
There is a beginning of a new mood regarding clerical abuse of children, and a willingness to accept that not all those who are accused are guilty. For example, this is evident by the widespread sympathy given to a former Christian Brother, Paul Farrell, whose conviction for child sexual abuse was overturned after nine years in limbo.
We are still far from realising, however, that what has been mercilessly exposed in the church is only the tip of the iceberg in Irish society, and that denial, obfuscation and lack of leadership regarding sexual abuse are far from the exclusive property of the Catholic Church.