Paedophile priests escaped the wrath of the law because senior police officers believed clerics were untouchable, it was revealed today.

A shocking report into clerical child abuse uncovered inappropriate contacts between members of the Republic's An Garda Siochana and the Dublin Archdiocese.

It found the connivance of Gardai with the church effectively stifled one complaint, saw that there was no investigation into another and allowed a priest to leave the country.

The Commission said it would not have been aware of allegations made to gardai had it not been for information in Church files.

In particular, it criticised the handling of one case by former Garda Commissioner Daniel Costigan in the mid-1960s. He resigned in 1965.

It revealed he breached his duty by handing over details of a complaint against a priest known as Father Edmondus to Archbishop McQuaid without carrying out a thorough investigation.

The cleric was finally jailed almost four decades later.

"A number of very senior members of the gardai, including the Commissioner in 1960, clearly regarded priests as being outside their remit," it stated.

"There are some examples of gardai actually reporting complaints to the Archdiocese instead of investigating them.

"It is fortunate that some junior members of the force did not take the same view."

The Commission said four Archbishops, including Cardinal Desmond Connell, did not report their knowledge of abuse throughout the 1960s, 1970s or 1980s.

Their obsession to keep allegations secret meant few complaints were brought to the attention of gardai until the mid-1990s.

Even when Cardinal Connell handed over 17 names to officers in 1995, the Commission later found there were 28 priests with allegations against them at that time.

But Gardai said they were happy with the co-operation they later received from the Cardinal.

Elsewhere, the Commission said that, while impressed with officers directly involved in the prosecution of a Father Carney in the early 1980s, it criticised a 20-year delay in taking charges against a second cleric who currently faces trial.

"The Garda investigation into various complaints was sometimes very comprehensive and, in other cases, was cursory," it added.