More than 100 allegations, 21 priests, 40 years

THE Ferns Inquiry identified more than 100 allegations of abuse by 21 priests over a 40-year period beginning in 1962.

These ranged from 26 allegations against one priest, Fr Sean Fortune, to single complaints against nine others. Just six priests are named in the report; the others are referred to by letters of Greek alphabet.

The inquiry, established in March 2003 and chaired by retired Supreme Court judge Mr Frank Murphy, did not adjudicate on the truth of the allegations, but focused on how those complaints were handled by the relevant authorities.

The allegations are outlined in graphic detail in the report, and range from fondling to rape.

The report is heavily critical of the Church. The Bishop of Ferns from 1964 to 1983, Donal Herlihy, failed "to take even basic precautions to protect children", it found. Having received allegations against two priests, he sent both to the Diocese of Westminster, only to allow them return at a later stage and resume positions within Ferns.

Similarly, he sent two other priests for clinical assessment, yet despite receiving unfavourable reports, again appointed them to positions within Ferns.

Bishop Brendan Comiskey oversaw the diocese from 1984 to 2002. The report was extremely critical of him. Despite receiving allegations against 10 living priests and four who had died, no priest was removed from active ministry during his episcopacy.

The report also examined the response of the then South Eastern Health Board to cases of abuse involving six priests. The inquiry found it had acted appropriately in four of them, but that more generally, the board's responses "were not consistent in all cases."

In 1988, allegations by 10 children in Monageer were forwarded to gardaí and Church authorities. The health board only offered them counselling and support, seven years after the allegations were made.

The gardaí came in for criticism because of their response to complaints prior to the 1990s. In the 1970s and 1980s, informal complaints were made to individual officers, but no record of these were found "on the Garda files or elsewhere".

Before 1990, individual officers seemed to have been reluctant to properly investigate allegations against the clergy, the report states.

This changed in the 1990s, when garda response to complaints was deemed appropriate.

In all, gardaí investigated complaints against eight of the priests, and the Director of Public Prosecutions decided to bring proceedings in three of those cases.

The men involved in two of those, Fr Donal Collins and Fr James Doyle, pleaded guilty and were convicted. The third case, involving Fr Sean Fortune, was struck out after he committed suicide in March 1999.

Ten of the priests are now dead, six having passed away before allegations against them were made.

Of the 11 still alive, three have been excluded from the priesthood by the Vatican, and seven have stood aside temporarily from active ministry at the request of Bishop Eamonn Walsh pending investigations. The eighth is "advanced in years", and retired. All deny the allegations against them.

The inquiry found no evidence of a paedophile ring operating in the Diocese of Ferns or any clerical institution within that diocese.