what he meant to say was..

A short extract from a report in the Irish Times[subs req]. Seemingly, yesterday Taoiseach Bertie Ahern criticised the media for not reporting something he didn’t say.. See over the fold.From the Irish Times report[subs again] –

The Taoiseach last night elaborated on his strong defence of the Catholic Church’s relationship with the State.

A spokesman for Mr Ahern said that while the Taoiseach was accurately quoted in the media yesterday as praising the church’s role in education and in Irish society, Mr Ahern had also wanted to acknowledge the deep sense of “betrayal” felt by many people arising from the church’s response to clerical sex abuse.

Mr Ahern told reporters earlier yesterday that he was annoyed his reference to feeling betrayed had not been reported.

However, his spokesman said last night that the Taoiseach had not in fact used the word “betrayal” despite the fact that it had been included in his speaking notes prepared for the occasion. His criticisms of the media yesterday for not reporting the remarks he thought he had made were “due to a genuine misunderstanding”, the spokesman said.[emphasis added]

Meanwhile, as RTÉ reports, the Bishop of Ardagh and Clonmacnoise, Dr Colm O’Reilly, has welcomed the discussion on the issue of the future alignment of the nation’s schools.

Pete Baker