The following is part of a reaction from the One in Four group of survivors of clerical abuse:

"Pope Benedict has passed up a glorious opportunity to address the core issue in the clerical sexual abuse scandal: the deliberate policy of the Catholic Church at the highest levels to protect sex offenders, thereby endangering children. The pope speaks on only of the failures in the Irish church, and neglects the role of the Vatican. If the church cannot acknowledge this fundamental truth, it is still in denial,"

quote taken from this article

I think this sums up well how people (in Ireland) feel about the issue, as far as I can gather from the reactions I have heard so far. .