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	150 Clergymen 'Linked to Abuse' By Tom Peterkin Telegraph [Ireland] May 3, 2007 http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/05/03/nabuse103.xml 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. 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.
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