Cardinal Seán Brady has said internal church inquiries into child abuse took place under a "shroud of secrecy" to "save the church from scandal".
The former head of the Catholic church in Ireland told the Historical Institutional Abuse Inquiry in Northern Ireland it was a "dark chapter in the Church's history."
He is giving evidence about the paedophile priest, Fr Brendan Smyth.
The probe is focusing on the abuses carried out by Smyth, and examining whether systemic failings allowed him to continue offending for so long.
Yesterday, the inquiry heard that gardaí were aware of Smyth's abuses as early as the 1970s.
Reporter Alan Murray is at the inquiry.
He told Newstalk Lunchtime Cardinal Brady admitted that the internal inquiry process in 1975 was "intimidating" for some witnesses.
