What did he know? & When did he know it?

It is rather amazing that amid all the outpouring of sympathy for Cahal Daly who died last week no one is asking a serious of very obvious questions:

1. What did this man know about the child abuse scandals within the Roman Catholic Church?

2. When did he know of the level of abuse that has subsequently been uncovered?

After all he was the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Armagh and thus Primate of All Ireland from 1990 to 1996. The Ryan Inquiry into child abuse at Roman Catholic institutions in Ireland found that church leaders knew that sexual abuse was 'endemic' in boys' institutions and had taken out insurance to cover the cost of paying of those who made allegations.

The Dublin Archdiocese Commission of Investigation's 720-page report published in Nov 2009 said that it had 'no doubt that clerical child sexual abuse was covered up' from January 1975 to May 2004, the time covered by the report.

Th report also stated:
The Dublin Archdiocese's pre-occupations in dealing with cases of child sexual abuse, at least until the mid 1990s, were the maintenance of secrecy, the avoidance of scandal, the protection of the reputation of the Church, and the preservation of its assets.

The welfare of children, which should have been the first priority, was not even a factor to be considered in the early stages.

Instead the focus was on the avoidance of scandal and the preservation of the good name, status and assets of the institution and of what the institution regarded as its most important members -- the priests.

It is inconceivable that this was not known at the highest level. The scale of the abuse subsequently uncovered indicates how big an issue it was.

No one seems to have been willing to ask these questions before or after the cardinal died. Why not???