Cardinal Desmond Connell has visited paedophile priests in prison, a Church spokesman has confirmed.
Organisations for victims of abuse have criticised the visits on the basis that the Cardinal had "not met the needs of victims".
But the Church spokesman insisted the visits were part of his pastoral duty.
The Cardinal was reported to have visited the infamous convicted paedophile, Father Ivan Payne and convicted former cleric Tony Walsh at the Curragh prison in Co Kildare.
Confirming the visits, the spokesman said Dr Connell has also held "many" meetings with victims of paedophile priests, particularly in the past five years.
The prison service was unaware of any formal visit, but a spokesman said the Cardinal could have gone as an ordinary visitor as was his right.
Dr Connell's first formal Mass on becoming Cardinal was at Arbour Hill prison.
Cardinal Connell and other senior clergy celebrate Mass in prisons, particularly at Christmas and Easter.
Before his appointment as a Bishop, Dr Eamon Walsh was a prison chaplain, the spokesman added, and encouraged clergy to visit prisoners.
It was part of Dr Connell's pastoral duty to visit priests.
"He visits priests in hospital and attends funerals", and would also visit priests in prison as part of that duty.
In the Bible, Matthew's gospel stated that "when I was in prison you visited me" and that was part of the Cardinal's duty of care, the spokesman said.
"A lot of Bishops would take turns to go into different prisons."
Mr John Kelly, of Survivors of Child Abuse, said he did not dispute the Cardinal's right to visit paedophile priests, but "he should have visited victims first and addressed their concerns".
Mr Kelly said the Cardinal had a "bigger duty to the victims".
He criticised Dr Connell for, in one case, offering compensation to a victim whom he met in Ballyfermot but, he claimed, failing to report the case to the Garda.
He also claimed that in the case of a convicted ex-Christian Brother, the Cardinal had failed to meet his "financial responsibility" to the victim.
The Church spokesman rejected the claims and said that in November 1995 Dr Connell, as Archbishop, had ordered a trawl of all diocesan files.
All allegations were to be reported to the Garda, and "several complaints were already with gardaí".
He pointed out that the meeting with the victim in Ballyfermot was in late 1997, early 1998, following the reporting of allegations to gardaí.
The Cardinal, in his role as Archbishop of Dublin, had also met many victims of abuse in the past number of years, including those in Ballyfermot and Sutton, as well as other victims who had sought meetings.
