AN UNPRECEDENTED meeting yesterday between the Irish Bishops' Conference and representatives of abuse victims has been described as a "gigantic step forward" by Michael O'Brien of the Right to Peace group.
Catholic primate Cardinal Seán Brady described the meeting in St Patrick's College, Maynooth, as "the first step of many steps".
The Archbishop of Dublin, Dr Diarmuid Martin, said "it was the most significant meeting I have ever attended in that room. It was extraordinary".
It was "a very momentous, very historic occasion", John Kelly of Soca Ireland (Survivors of Child Abuse) said.
The meeting, held at the request of former residents' groups, began at 10am yesterday and ended at approximately 12.45pm.
Afterwards Mr Kelly, Mr O'Brien, Tom Hayes of the Alliance group and Christy Heaphy of the Cork-based Right of Place, met the media accompanied by Cardinal Brady and Archbishop Martin.
Mr O'Brien said they requested that the bishops set up a subcommittee to begin a dialogue with the groups as they moved towards closure on the issue.
They had also requested the setting up of a benevolent fund by the bishops to help people who may have received redress but who still needed help in areas such as education and counselling.
They had also asked the bishops to make representations to the Taoiseach to speed up dealings with religious congregations towards the setting up of a new trust, he said.
Mr Kelly explained that they had given a full account of their experiences to the bishops, which must have been "very hard to listen to".
They asked that the Catholic Church as a whole be more responsive to survivors, he said.
They could have done more in the past, he said, as they had influence and a moral responsibility. All groups representing former residents of the institutions would be involved in an ongoing dialogue with the bishops, he said.
Mr Hayes said the four groups at yesterday's meeting had a mandate to attend as they represented a majority of survivors.
Archbishop Martin said there had been "particularly good" discussions at the meeting about survivors in England, many of whom were old and homeless. They discussed how resources might be made available to them, he said.
However, there had been no discussion about compensation for women who had been in Magdalen institutions he said.
Mr O'Brien said the next step would be a meeting with religious congregations. The groups had already met representatives of Faoiseamh - the helpline set up by the Conference of Religious of Ireland.
Meanwhile, Christine Buckley, Bernadette Fahy and Carmel McDonnell Byrne of the Aislinn group had a separate meeting with Archbishop Martin in Drumcondra, Dublin, last night.
Ms Buckley said she had not known about yesterday's meeting in Maynooth and asked to meet Archbishop Martin as soon as she heard about it.
Similar matters to those in Maynooth were discussed at last night's meeting.
Archbishop Martin said yesterday that he had no indication of when the Dublin commission report into clerical sex abuse in the archdiocese might be published.
It emerged later yesterday that, although December 8th is the final date for delivery of a reserved judgment by the High Court on what parts of the report might be published without prejudicing forthcoming criminal trials, the judgment may be delivered sooner and possibly in early November.
It is believed likely that the report may have to redrafted. Many now doubt that it will be published this year.
Meanwhile, it is expected that the investigation element of the Cloyne inquiry will be completed by the end of this year.
