Gabriel Byrne to step down as Irish Cultural Ambassador

He basically did it for free? Gee how much did he milk the Irish taxpayer for?

Sorry to see Gabriel Byrne stepping down. What a wonderful cultural ambassador he was!

The church had it within its power when the abuses became known to open its books, report everything to the authorities and assist with the bringing to justice of the most heinous criminals in its midst. It could then have approached the people of Ireland with cleaned hands. It chose not to do so and chose to prolong the abuse in every possible way. The church chose its own path at that particular crossroads and stands condemned as an organisation which purports to speak of ethics or morals. Nothing has been done to the institutional church by its critics which the church did not arrange for itself.

Dear Springfield9: The Church brought shame on itself by covering up, closing their eyes, and generally allowing this destructive abuse -- mental, physical and sexual-- to occur!

it is really eye-opening to see the degree to which accusation of 'church bashing' emerge in these posts. As if the motivation of concerned people for innocent victims of abuse is 'bashing a church'... what? We all know that child abuse is a wide-spread problem in society and is not limited to "the Church". For members of any organization, whether that is a University sports program or the boy scouts, a church or whatever... to claim their 'institution' is the 'victim' in these cases seems completely self-serving and is no longer taken seriously by the majority. You would all do yourselves and society at large a great favour by focusing your efforts on reforming your institutions rather than reflexively defending them.

NO, I think it's about time that men speak out, in whatever forum is available to them. Men have kept all this abuse to themselves. Men will be better for speaking out. Instead, look at the predators, who deserve your animosity. Punish them with your criticism, not those who have so courageously shined a light on high crimes.

So they should sweep the truth under the rug and forget about it?

What a pity that Byrne and Neeson, two great men, would feel the need to try and combine theater art and the shame of the Church.