The Catholic Church has said today it is "quite possible" it will review its guidelines to protect children from sexual abuse, following a report into paedophile activity within the British church.
But the Church also said its current guidelines for the protection of children here are "working satisfactorily".
The British report, commissioned by the Catholic Bishops of England and Wales and published today, recommended that police checks be carried out on all staff, volunteers and clergy in an effort to stamp out paedophile activity in the Roman Catholic Church.
The establishment of a national database of information on all candidates for the ordained ministry was also suggested by the research, which was headed by the former Law Lord Lord Nolan.
Fr Martin Clarke, spokesman for the Irish Catholic church told ireland.comtoday the British report would be examined at the Irish Bishops Conference in June this year and following that "there may be" similar action taken in Ireland.
He said child protection was central to both the British investigation and Irish guidelines established in 1996 and a review of the latter would be "timely" five years on.
But Mr John Kelly, coordinator of SOCA, a group for the survivors of child abuse, told ireland.comtoday the Irish guidelines do not go far enough to protect children.
He said the British guidelines of 1994, which "were even stronger than the ones here" - established in 1996, were found to be inadequate by the Catholic church in Britain.
Mr Kelly said that under the current guidelines in Ireland, convicted paedophile clergy can still move out of this jurisdiction and practice elsewhere. He said because a lot of the clergy are involved in missionary work, there is nothing to stop them abusing in Africa or Asia.
Mr Kelly, whose organisation represents 90 per cent of child abuse survivors in Ireland , said the child's welfare was fundamental to the British report as opposed to the image of the church, which was the case in Ireland.
He called for the recommendations made in the British report today to be "implemented immediately" in Ireland in order to stamp out paedophilia within the Catholic church.