IRELAND
Irish Independent

Kevin Myers: Any senator or TD who tried to raise the issue of clerical child abuse in the Dail would have been shouted down

Tuesday February 14 2012

IF the Vatican was in any doubt about the relative futility of appeasing the apology-culture that we now live in, it shouldn’t be any longer. “I want the Pope to know that if he’s invited to Ireland — and in fairness, he is welcome to come — he must apologise to the people of Ireland and meet survivors of abuse”: thus, Michael O’Brien, former mayor of Clonmel, and himself a victim of abuse, as quoted in the ‘Sunday Times’ over the weekend.

He must apologise, must he? This is what the Pope said in his pastoral letter two years ago:

“To the victims of abuse and their families. You have suffered grievously and I am truly sorry. I…