150 clergymen 'linked to child sex abuse'*

By Tom Peterkin, Ireland Correspondent
Last Updated: 2:03am BST 03/05/2007

Nearly 150 Roman Catholic clergymen in Ireland's biggest archdiocese
have been linked to child sex abuse allegations over the past 67 years.

The statistics for Dublin archdiocese were released days before the
opening of hearings into how the Church handled abuse claims.

Survivors of abuse are expected to give evidence during private sessions
of the inquiry, called by the Irish government.
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Church officials said specific allegations have been made against 74
priests and suspicions raised about 10 more. Further abuse allegations
have been made against 61 others who worked there.

Eight priests have so far been convicted and the cases of three are
before the courts.

There have been 112 civil court actions brought against 32 Dublin
priests or clergymen who held appointments elsewhere in the
archdiocese.Of these, 72 have been concluded and 40 are ongoing.

The archdiocese said the total cost of legal settlements had come to
£5.3 million.

In 2005, a watershed judicial inquiry into another Irish diocese -
Ferns, Co Wexford, - reported on about 100 complaints of child sex
against at least 21 priests.

It was the first time the state had investigated how the church, once
dominant in the life of the Republic, was run.

The scale of the problem caused shock across the country. An Irish
government body paying out compensation to people who suffered abuse in
mainly religious-run child-care institutions said it had received 14,768
requests before it closed for application in December 2005. The final
cost to the taxpayer is expected to be £700 million.