Former minister of state Liz O'Donnell has demanded an end to the traditional deference shown to the Catholic Church and a full legally-enforced audit of its finances, saying the institution can no longer be trusted to tell the truth.
In the strongest Dáil attack on the Catholic Church in memory, the PD backbencher called for an end to the "special relationship" between church and State.
"The cosy phone calls from All Hallows to Government Buildings must end," she said. She also demanded that "the church's almost universal control of education" be "radically addressed".
Apparently implying that children may still be at risk of abuse in church-run schools, she said Catholic Church control of education must be addressed "if our stated commitment to taking all necessary steps to protect children is to be more than just rhetoric".
During a debate on the report into clerical sex abuse in the Ferns diocese, she said the church's bona fides should not be accepted.
"The track record is such that we cannot accept that the church will be truthful or capable of self-regulation."She said the "hardball" played by top lawyers hired by the church "still goes on".
Ms O'Donnell denounced "the deafening and unbelievable immoral silence of the Vatican on the Ferns report".
The State should, therefore, adopt what she called a "no more Mr Nice Guy" approach to the church. There should be no more consultation with it on in-vitro fertilisation (IVF), abortion services, stem-cell research, Ireland's support for family planning in the Third World, contraception, supports for single mothers, adoption, homosexuality and civil marriage.
In the Dáil, Government chief whip Tom Kitt said, in reply to Ms O'Donnell: "The Catholic Church does not have a special relationship with the State based on its creed. In the Ireland of 2005, we do not prioritise the Catholic Church over any other church, and I could not see myself being part of any government that would so."
Ms O'Donnell said that if the Catholic hierarchy was a cabinet "it would resign en masse or be thrown out of office". She demanded an audit of the church's wealth, backed by discovery orders forcing the church to open its books. "Central to the church's self-serving response over the years has been private financial settlements, without liability, as well as confidentiality deals."
A PD spokesman said Ms O'Donnell had "expressed her strongly-held views with regard to the role of the church. The leadership of the party strongly supports her right to do so."
He said she was not expressing PD policy, but her views "will feed into discussions" the party has on the fall-out from the Ferns report. Ms Harney was out of Dublin, and had not had a chance to read Ms O'Donnell's speech.