Cardinal and minister should end phoney war

Is there some way to ask both Cardinal Seán Brady and Minister Frances Fitzgerald to refrain from what essentially is a phoney war?

Of course, what the Cardinal said at Knock is true, confession is an inviolable and ''sacred and treasured'' rite but that speech has only served to push Minister Fitzgerald into a further reiteration of her intention to bring in a broad based mandatory reporting policy.

For her part, Minister Fitzgerald wants no hiding place for people who abuse children. No one could find fault with that.

For too long we've had ministers for children who promised much but were light on delivery.

So while both the cardinal and the minister are right and good intentioned, the obvious inability to sit down and talk with each other to find common ground is a serious problem and is not going to serve the cause to which both are committed -- the protection of children.

A Church/State conflict over the confessional seal will not serve either party. 

Could both of them actually focus on the 99.9 per cent of the problem which exists outside of the confessional in order to try and make some progress on this deeply ingrained issue in our society?

Few abusers admit to child abuse and few confess it and none will confess it if the priest is forced to go to the gardai¨. So why make this the dominant issue?

Cardinal Brady has enough to worry about with the Raphoe audit coming out soon, and possibly leading on to Derry and who knows where after that.

For the minister, she should be looking at the HSE and other State bodies who have been criticised in all the abuse reports and yet no one has had to resign.

She should also look at the reality that child sexual abuse is occurring every day in our society and that it is Catholics, non-Catholics and post-Catholics who are involved.

A phoney war instead of what needs to be a real and engaging debate, to which we all should be party, runs the risk of becoming a further farce through an unnecessary focus in what will emerge as a red herring -- that might be suiting the agendas of those who would wish to perpetuate a phoney war, than have a moment based on shared full truth (State and Church) and find resolutions.

So come on, minister, and come on, cardinal! Open your diaries and sit down and talk. What is -- or is not -- already in the files of Churches, voluntary groups and State organisations and agencies, is the crux of the matter.

The Church has mandatory reporting for 15 years now (whatever deficiencies occur in some cases) -- who else has?

And while we are at it, will the proposed mandatory law be retrospective and in that case, it may give us all a chance to see what has been really happening on the sidelines of this debate since Brendan Smyth in 1994.

How many citizens have remained silent about the 96pc of abuse that goes largely unheard of?

Safeguarding Children in Ireland -- pro-child or anti-Catholic? 

It's time for a fuller debate!

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