Rónán Mullen (Independent)

Shame on us if we put the goods of the church ahead of the good of victims. The religious orders have a moral duty to look at what has happened under their care, at the resources they have now and what it is in their power to do to help heal the hurt - I stress "help" - including the application of such resources as they have at their disposal.

It will be a complicated matter. Some religious orders, no doubt, will be better equipped than others, but I hope they will be generous in looking at the issue again. I heard politicians say with great outrage in recent days, and I understand the wave of anger and outrage, that religious orders have a moral duty to contribute more. They certainly have a moral duty to ask themselves whether they have contributed enough.

It will be difficult to assess, if we are honest about the work being done, the disparity of resources between the State and the orders and the disparity of resources between the orders themselves. It is not something that can be assessed quickly, but generosity is what is required and a gesture of generosity badly needs to be heard from that quarter.

It is incumbent upon us as Senators and Members of Parliament to be true to the facts and give leadership at this time, because of the waves of anger washing over the country about all this, and it is anger we feel ourselves as citizens and people with humanitarian intent. People have been talking at this time about closing down embassies or mixing Rome with the Vatican. Many of these organisations have headquarters in Rome and may well have people or documents there. It does not mean such documents are under the control of the Vatican or anything like it.

We had a history of anti-Catholic bigotry in this country in the North and it should not return under any guise or any provoking circumstances such as those we are all enduring. I say that as somebody who feels sick to the stomach. I hate reading this report, but I forced myself to do so. Every citizen should. It is not a matter of whether they are a Catholic but of trying to ensure justice is done. Let us not descend into further injustice.

I had a meeting just now with a member of the Good Shepherd order, one of the 18 orders, in the ordinary-----