Comiskey home to net €30,000 for diocese

IT was to be a palace fit for a former bishop, but now Bracken Lodge, just outside Wexford town, is on the market and the Diocese of Ferns stands to make a €30,000 profit on its sale.

The spacious bungalow was to be the retirement home for former bishop Brendan Comiskey. But he never lived there. He stepped down on April 1 of last year following a BBC documentary into the Diocese of Ferns and his handling in particular of sex abuse allegations by priests who served in his area.

Bishop Comiskey left for the US on sabbatical to study and when he returns, he is to be housed by the Sacred Heart Community, of whom he’s a member. The order offered him accommodation in their own head house in Dublin, just months after the diocese bought Bracken Lodge for €234,000 almost exactly a year ago.

Agents, Kehoe & Associates, say there has not been an offer on the property yet. But given its condition, and location just three miles from Curracloe beach, the four-bedroom bungalow should be snapped up soon.

The purchase by the diocese sparked controversy when it was first disclosed but Dr Eamonn Walsh, Bishop Comiskey’s replacement, defended the move, saying it was more financially sound than renting a property for the former bishop.

Diocesan spokesman, Fr John Carroll, said yesterday the property is now surplus to requirement.