Cardinal Desmond Connell says he has no intention of commenting on calls for the Bishop of Ferns, Dr Brendan Comiskey, to resign or be sacked.
Dr Comiskey has been heavily criticised for his failure to respond adequately to allegations of child sexual abuse against one his priests, the late Father Sean Fortune.
Ferns diocese is in the province of Dublin, the "metropolitan" archdiocese, but Dr Connell declined to comment on the current crisis raised by last week's BBC television documentary in which Fortune's victims and their families were scathing on the role of Dr Comiskey.
Mrs Monica Fitzpatrick, whose son, Peter, committed suicide four years ago, allegedly because of the trauma he suffered at being abused by Fortune, had called for Bishop Comiskey to be dismissed.
Asked to comment yesterday by RTE's Religious Affairs Correspondent, Mr Joe Little, Dr Connell said: "I have no intention of speaking about one of my brother bishops." The archbisop conceded he was the Bishop of Ferns's "metropolitan", but added that, as such, he had practically no power under canon law. "I have to be invited by the Holy See," he said.
Pressed by Mr Little, who suggested the archbishop had little difficulty in advising Bishop Eamon Casey to "stay out of the country", Archbishop Connell added:
"I deeply regret what has happened, but I don't know enough about it to be able to make the kind of judgment you seem to be able to make."
Dr Connell was attending a conference in Stillorgan, Co Dublin, where hundreds of parish representatives from all over the archdiocese had gathered to discuss with him the possibility of convening a diocesan synod.
Six years ago, a spokesman for the Bishop of Ferns had promised that, after he had returned from Florida where he had undergone treatment for alcoholism, Dr Comiskey would deal with questions relating to his handling of child-abusing priests.