The Vatican has criticized Irish Prime Minister Enda Kenny’s statements attacking their actions and his allegations of a cover up of child sex abuse as outlined in the Cloyne Report into pedophile priests in the County Cork diocese.

The statement from the Vatican released on Saturday stated it "has significant reservations that the speech made by Enda Kenny TD in the Dáil on the 20th of July, in particular, the accusation that the Holy See attempted to frustrate an inquiry in a sovereign democratic republic, is unfounded."

The statement strongly added that the Vatican in no way tried to interfere in any inquiry into child sex abuse in Ireland.

Kenny had attacked what what he termed "the dysfunction, disconnection and elitism" in the Vatican during a widely applauded speech in the Irish parliament in July.

But the Vatican now claims that there is no evidence in the Cloyne Report to back up Kenny’s claim that they interfered with the investigation of the 19 priests under scrutiny.

The Cloyne Report examined how both Church and State authorities mishandled  allegations of child sexual abuse made against the 19 priests working under Bishop John Magee in the Co Cork diocese between 1996 and 2009.

It found that Bishop Magee lied when told the government that all allegations of abuse were being handled correctly and that all allegations were being reported to the proper authorities.

Instead Magee had allowed abuser priests to continue serving in some cases. Magee a former secretary to three popes, fled Ireland before the abuse report came out and only returned recently. His actions have been widely criticized, including by several fellow clerics.