Irish Government Negotiating With Catholic Church Over Sex Abuse Reporting

Ireland's Independent reports today that the government is in talks with the country's Catholic bishops to create a legal framework that will permit the country's Health Service Executive to learn the full extent of child sexual abuse by priests. A government commission is already investigating the extent of abuse in the diocese of Dublin, and earlier this month a full inquiry was ordered into the situation in the diocese of Cloyne (in Cork). The government wants bishops to report even unsubstantiated rumors and "soft information" about clergy child sexual abuse. Negotiations between the government and the Church turn on how to protect the Church from defamation actions by wrongly accused priests if this is done.