Michael Kelly
Justice Minister Alan Shatter has said it would be up to the courts to decide if a priest would be imprisoned for refusing to break the seal of confession under his new proposals on mandatory reporting of suspicions of abuse.
Mr Shatter has refused to provide an exemption for the sacramental seal under his proposed legislation, despite admitting that the various reports on abuse never identified allegations being made in Confession as an issue.
His latest remarks come as the man charged with safeguarding children in the State has admitted that social workers are unable to do everything that is being asked of them, casting further doubt on the workability of mandatory reporting.
Mr Shatter’s proposals on mandatory reporting will inevitably increase the workload even more and respected professionals in the field have warned of the risk of overload as a result.
Gordon Jeyes, national director of child and family services, admitted this week that “resources are limited; the size of the challenge is great”.
There are real fears among professionals in the field that continued grandstanding by Mr Shatter and Children’s Minister Frances Fitzgerald on the issue fails to appreciate the serious lack of...
In Xultun, Guatemala, archaeologists have uncovered the only known mural in an ancient Mayan house and apparently it contains calculations for 7,000 years into the future. 
On all sides, in the Irish context, one hears bad news of the Catholic faith, and bitter reactions against it. Some criticisms are deserved; some are strangely lacking in historical perspective.
