The head of the Roman Catholic Church in Ireland apologised "with all my heart" yesterday over his role in a clerical sex abuse probe which has rocked the church.

Cardinal Sean Brady has faced calls to quit from victims' groups over his attendance at meetings in 1975 where children allegedly abused by one of Ireland's worst serial paedophiles were asked to take a vow of secrecy.

In his annual Saint Patrick's Day address, Cardinal Brady said he would be "reflecting carefully" in the coming weeks on what had happened - and asked worshippers to "pray for me".

"I want to say to anyone who has been hurt by any failure on my part that I apologise to you with all my heart," he said in the address in Armagh, Northern Ireland.

"I also apologise to all those who feel I have let them down. Looking back I am ashamed that I have not always upheld the values that I profess and believe in."

Cardinal Brady - who has previously said he would only resign if asked to by Pope Benedict XVI - added the response to abuse was "hopelessly inadequate" in the past and said that Irish Catholic bishops "today must acknowledge our failing".

He has faced criticism after it emerged he failed to notify authorities after attending meetings in 1975 where two alleged victims of Fr Brendana Smyth signed an oath of secrecy.

Cardinal Brady, then a priest and part-time secretary to the late Bishop of Kilmore Francis

McKiernan, was present at the meetings at the direction of the bishop, according to a statement from the Catholic Church.

The Church was investigating sex abuse complaints against Fr Smyth whose activities led to the fall of Prime Minister Albert Reynolds' coalition government in 1994.

Fr Smyth, who is believed to have abused hundreds of children over a 40-year period in Ireland, Northern Ireland, Scotland and the United States, was finally jailed in the 1990s and died in prison.

In his address, Cardinal Brady also called for an end to the "drip, drip, drip revelations of failure" by the Church on the issue.

"The integrity of our witness to the gospel challenges us to own up to and take responsibility for any mismanagement or cover-up of child abuse," he said.

"For the sake of survivors, for the sake of all the Catholic faithful as well as the religious and priests of this country, we have to stop the drip, drip, drip of revelations of failure."