LONDON (AP) — The archbishop of Dublin says the Catholic Church of Ireland needs to reflect further on the roots of sexual abuse of children by priests and is calling for public investigations into the scandal.

Diarmuid Martin says he believes the public interest could be served by public, research-based investigations into abuse and that the "answers to some questions are not to be found just in the archives of the Church."

Martin is widely considered to be Ireland's most reform-minded Catholic leader and the Irish church's leading voice calling for greater openness on past abuse.

In an address to the MacGill Summer school in Glenties, Ireland, on Tuesday, he said there is "no way" the abuse of thousands of children within the Irish church can be swept under the rug.