The Labour Party finance spokeswoman, Ms Joan Burton, has said there is "a moral imperative" on members of religious congregations who witnessed abuse in institutions to come forward and say so.
She says she finds it "astonishing" that so many religious who had adopted such very principled positions around the poor and disadvantaged "have chosen to remain silent on this".
Speaking at a meeting of Irish SOCA in Dublin's Liberty Hall yesterday, Ms Burton said she felt recent remarks by Dublin's Coadjutor Archbishop, Dr Diarmuid Martin, that lawyers would not dictate pastoral policy on abuse, were a clear signal to such religious to come forward.
Many of today's religious "were young men, mainly, and young women who must have been horrified by what they saw and heard," she said. They needed to come out to ensure justice for the victims.
It would be "practical compassion" which would help victims get justice, she said. "I really don't understand why they have not spoken out yet. They really have to play their part."
Mr John Kelly of Irish SOCA called for an end to the "deliberate exclusion from the consultation process of the largest survivor group" (Irish SOCA).
He called for the immediate removal of the Department of Education from the process and said all "Government-sponsored individuals and so-called \ groups" should "discontinue the practice of being a mouthpiece for the State".
He called for compensation amounts awarded by the Redress Board to be commensurate with awards made by the High Court. Four resolutions on those matters were passed by the meeting.
Fine Gael TD Mr Fergus O'Dowd said the abuse issue was "bigger than any political party. It is about our society, what we did in the past and must never be allowed happen again." He said victims were the most important people and they must get the justice they wanted.
Green TD Mr Paul Gogarty promised that if the worst came to the worst, he would be prepared to use Dáil privilege to read victims' statements into the record of the House. He called for absolute privilege to be accorded the confidential committee.
He promised to give the Minister for Education, Mr Dempsey, a grilling at a meeting of the Oireachtas Committee on Education and Science today.
Sinn Féin councillor Mr Larry O'Toole told the meeting about his experience of the commission's confidential committee, to which he accompanied his wife. She and her brother had been "locked up in Goldenbridge" as a child and the family had been living with the consequences for 40-odd years. Even though her experience before the committee had been "very uplifting", the problems hadn't gone away.
He criticised those who accused victims of making false allegations. "You know and I know you couldn't make these things up, but we want to let the world know what happened."
