SEANAD REPORT:THE VATICAN State was fast becoming a flag of convenience for child abusers and paedophiles, Joe O'Toole (Ind) said when he urged the closure of the Irish Embassy in the Vatican.

Mr O’Toole and other members on both sides of the House called on the religious orders and congregations involved with institutions where children were abused to increase the amount they were prepared to contribute in compensation to victims. The cost should be shared equally by the State and the 18 orders, he said.

He was not seeking the sale of schools or hospitals, but he wanted the deeds relating to them to be transferred to “our ownership until such time as we make up the amount that will be needed”.

At a time when we had decided to close down our consulate office in Wales – our nearest overseas trading neighbour – it would, in his view, make far more sense to keep that office open and to close the “unnecessary” Embassy in the Vatican.

“In the Ryan report we see that the Vatican has been used as the place where orders have lodged files that they don’t want to make available to the Irish Government, and it is a place where elderly paedophiles and child abusers are finding sanctuary.”

David Norris (Ind) said he had listened in horror to the oleaginous Dr Michael Woods excusing the disgraceful agreement that had been made and saying that the taxpayers would be glad to pay.

“Well, they won’t; why should they? It should be 50-50. Anything else is appalling. And then to say it was the British who urged this regime of cruelty. I don’t believe there’s room in this Oireachtas for a person like that.”

Mark Daly (FF) said the Conference of Religious of Ireland had no moral authority left when it said it would not renegotiate the deal.

Liam Twomey (FG) said the State could issue threats to institutions that refused to co-operate. It was very easy to remove charitable status from those institutions.