O'Gorman calls for admission that Brady 'failed to act appropriately'

The founder of One in Four has called for Cardinal Sean Brady to admit he failed to act appropriately by not reporting the abuse of children in 1975.

A BBC documentary last night claimed Cardinal Brady was part of a team of clerics who were made aware of allegations of abuse by Fr Brendan Smyth in 1975, but failed to act.

However in a statement released before the programme aired last night, the Cardinal's spokesman said the then Father Brady was a notetaker for the inquiry, and it was not his responsibility to inform the civil authorities.

A further statement on the issue is expected from Cardinal Brady later today.

Founder of support group One in Four Colm O'Gorman said Cardinal Brady's inaction allowed the abuse of a significant number of children to persist.

He said: "I would hope the one thing we would get is a frank acknowledgement that his failure to act appropriately and properly and morally in 1975 did lead to very grave harm and to the abuse as we now know of a very significant number of children for many years."