Why didn’t we jail bishops? TDs bottled it

THE conviction in Australia of Catholic Archbishop Philip Wilson for concealing child sex abuse by a priest begs the question: why in the name of goodness and justice have we not done the same here with senior churchmen who knew about the torture of little children?

The simple reason is that the Australians upgraded their law on concealing crime – and we didn’t. Because we didn’t want to. Because there wasn’t the political will to do so.

Section 316 of the Crimes Act 1990 in New South Wales laid down a maximum sentence of two years in prison for anybody found guilty of concealing a serious crime, such as the rape of children.

In contrast, our politicians simply ignored the problem. Senior Catholic churchmen in Ireland were aware of the serial rape and abuse of children and failed to report those crimes.

Victims never saw even one senior clergyman paying the price in a court of law.

And the blame for all that rests with the men and women of the Oireachtas. They should be proud of themselves.