This BBC Report gives an indication that the Catholic Church was at least starting to work on the problem in Ireland in April, 2002. As far as I can tell, April 2002 was the first time that leading Irish bishops had acknowledged that the problem was widespread in Ireland.

But that was four years ago. People are working to resolve the problem. Every Catholic diocese in the U.S. has people employed to handle abuse reports. In Dublin, abuse can be reported to the Child Protection Service of the Diocese of Dublin. Of course, criminal matters should be reported directly to police agencies.

-Joe Offer-