The Minister for Education says the department is moving quickly regarding revelations of historical sexual abuse in day and boarding schools run by religious orders.
Yesterday, Kerry Fianna Fáil TD and Education Minister Norma Foley recommended that cabinet set up a commission of investigation following the publication of a scoping inquiry report.
She says the next step is to establish the terms of reference for the commission, which will likely include an investigation of all schools.
Minister Foley worked as a teacher before becoming a TD and says she was greatly distressed by the report's findings:
Under the 2002 agreement, agreed by the then Minister for Education Michael Woods, religious congregations were indemnified against any future legal actions taken against them by abuse survivors, in return for a €128 million contribution.
However, the author of the scoping report Senior Council Mary O'Toole recommended the government approach the religious orders to contribute towards to a redress scheme.
The minister says this will have to be worked through.
Minister Foley says a review of present day child protection measures found they were appropriate for preventing this type of abuse from happening again:
