The Minister for Justice has confirmed he viewed the Prime Time programme on how cases of alleged clerical child sex abuse were dealt with in the Archdiocese of Dublin twice over the weekend.
Mr McDowell is to brief the Cabinet this week on the type of inquiry which may be set up by the State. The move coincides with increasing political disquiet following the RTÉ programme Cardinal Secrets.
Speaking to The Irish Times last night, Mr McDowell said he was "very alarmed" by what he had seen and had found it "deeply disturbing".
The State investigation could take the form of a non-statutory private inquiry, similar to that which investigated the killing of John Carthy at Abbeylara, or a full tribunal. He speculated that a commissioner with statutory powers might be appointed.
"The Government has to reflect carefully" on what should be done, he said, and reach "a cool, calm decision". He also commented on "a common misconception that I drive the Garda", when it came to the investigation of such cases. This was not so. It was matter for the gardaí.
The Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, yesterday said he had not yet seen the programme but had received a video of it. He expected a report from the Minister for Justice on its content during the week "and we'll see where we go from there".
Fine Gael leader Mr Enda Kenny, speaking "as a Catholic and father of young children", described the programme's revelations as "an absolutely reprehensible business".
He didn't accept the recent statement by Cardinal Connell that the welfare of children had been his first priority in handling such cases. It was "not consistent with what we have learned since", he said.
As a Catholic he felt "diminished" by the whole business. "It does us all down," he said. He would favour a Garda investigation.
Labour Party leader Mr Ruairí Quinn felt that "as Bishop Willie Walsh has said, there should be no separation between Church and State when it comes to criminal investigation and proper inquiries of this issue". He believed a Garda investigation was "the way to go".
Former taoiseach Mr John Bruton said "the Church should place its (accused) members at the disposal of the legal system".
Speaking "very much as a practising Catholic", he believed the Church should be "more confident that the system will exonerate the overwhelming majority of clergy who had been fantastic servants of the people and their beliefs". Recognising the limitations of a tribunal, he favoured a criminal investigation.
Former taoiseach Dr Garret FitzGerald found it "incredible that anybody would think rape was a crime you didn't report to the police". He found the "it-was-a-different-time" argument unconvincing.
"There was no time here when rape was not a crime," he said. He had found the programme "compelling and appalling" and believed there should be a Garda investigation.
"All institutions protect themselves, but the Church should never do that," he said.
Speaking in a personal capacity, the President of the European Parliament, Mr Pat Cox, believed "as a practising Irish Catholic and parent", that the Church authorities had "inadequately understood the sense of shock and horror any parent would feel for a child in such circumstances". What had happened was "deeply criminal" and should be subject to "the fullest rigour of the law".
He was encouraged that the Minister for Justice had said he would reflect on what should be done about the way cases were dealt with.
The Sinn Féin president, Mr Gerry Adams, said: "The State has to ensure that no institution in our society is immune from civic accountability."
