Hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil

The conspiracy of silence and inaction which took place in the Catholic Church disclosed on Thursday is best summed up in yesterday’s Irish Times cartoon. The three; the Garda, the bishop and the state playing the role of the famous monkeys of eastern legend.

Today our nation has been found wanting. As the bishop of Down and Connor put it on BBC last night it leaves us all feeling sick to the bottom of our stomachs. Fr Tim Bartletts claim that he would not have been able to hold himself back had one of those priests touched one of his nieces or nephews reminds us also that in today’s church their are good people who know the future must be a very different place.

Too late for many, but at least the spotlight of disclosure is now shining in some very dark corners of our island. Accountability must now follow.

Diarmuid Martin, the Archbishop of Dublin may well turn out to be the saviour of the Irish church. His unwillingness to continue the conspiracy of silence has brought about this watershed. Will his fellow bishops follow?

Justice has always been at the heart of Irish Catholicism.

Now is the time for the church and state to show that justice is the future.