The Bishop of Raphoe has dismissed a newspaper article about the contents of a report into allegations of clerical child sex abuse in a Co Donegal diocese.

The article, in the Irish Independent, claims that hundreds of children were abused in Raphoe by around 20 priests over a 40-year period.

Bishop Philip Boyce said the report was "inaccurate and misleading and not in the public interest".

The audit in Raphoe for the National Board for Safeguarding Children in the Catholic Church is expected to be published later this month.

According to the article, there were "hundreds of victims who were abused again and again" and "the church actively prevented investigations by the civil authorities".

Bishop Boyce has said that all allegations of abuse made known to the Diocese of Raphoe were reported to the Gardaí and the Health Service Executive.

He said he had given the National Board for Safeguarding Children in the Catholic Church his full co-operation.

He added that once he received the report, he would publish it, probably next month.