Elaine Byrne: Why is it so easy to harm a child in Ireland?

In the last eight months, two separate reports have been published which suggest that foot-dragging and lack of communication by state agencies are failing to protect children from sexual abuse

News broke last Tuesday about the Garda investigation into an alleged major paedophile ring in Munster. It is alleged that some of its child victims were groomed from birth to be abused.

Each detail is more horrific than the last. In all of it, one ugly word bulges out like an open sore: years. The minutes of every day that turned slowly into weeks and months and years.

The Garda Inspectorate and the ...