The President, Mrs McAleese, yesterday described the sexual abuse of children by members of religious orders as a heinous betrayal of trust.
Speaking to reporters in Derry where she carried out a series of engagements yesterday, Mrs McAleese also described the determination of sex abuse victims to bring their abusers to justice as noble.
During her visit to Derry, the President was accompanied by the city's DUP Mayor, Alderman Mildred Garfield, when she called at a business park in the predominantly loyalist Tullally area of the Waterside.
Mrs McAleese said she did not believe Ireland's reputation had been tarnished by recent revelations, as child sex abuse by clergy was a world wide phenonemon.
"It's not peculiar to Ireland at all by any manner of means. . .we have seen the Government move very quickly to set up. . .they've appointed George Birmingham, a senior counsel, to advise them on the best way forward.
"At the same time just yesterday I signed off legislation which will compensate all those who were abused by residential homes which would have been run, for example, by religious orders in the past and that's very radical legislation.
"So if you look at how the Government have responded and indeed how the people have responded, because much of the running on this issue has been made by the public, which shows a public very educated about this, very anxious about it, very intelligent about it and very determined to sort it out.
"If anything, I think the message is of a people who want this issue very emphatically dealt with and dealt with well and who want it dealt with in such a way that the victim's dignity and the victim's woundedness is acknowledged and healed to the best that it is possible ever to heal wounds that result from something so heinous and such a ridiculous and awesome betrayal of trust.
"So, no, I think that the opposite is in fact the case, that Ireland and the people of Ireland come out of this incredibly well", she said.