Man at centre of siege aimed to ‘bring attention’ to sex abuse

A MAN who threatened to blow himself up in the centre of Roscrea said he was sexually abused while training as a Christian Brother.

A solicitor for Jim Hourigan, a separated father of three, issued a statement shortly before 5pm. Joe Burke, of Dublin-based McCartan and Burke Solicitors, said his client resorted to the drastic action to bring attention to the alleged sex abuse.

“Our client was the subject of serious sexual assaults while training as a Christian Brother. One of the perpetrators of these assaults has been convicted and imprisoned; our client has instigated civil proceedings seeking compensation,” he said.

He said his client was frustrated at the lack of progress in the case and added Mr Hourigan never intended to injure anybody and regretted any distress caused to his family and the people of Roscrea.

Mr Hourigan said he was a 13-year-old postulant in the Christian Brothers when he was repeatedly buggered and sodomised by a brother. He said he had been recruited to the brothers when he attended CBS in Adare.

The assaults, he said, led to him becoming an alcoholic. He lost his electrical business and his marriage had also collapsed. He said he was now separated from his wife and their three children.

“They live in a fine house I built with my own hands, ” he said.

It is believed that some of his family pleaded with him by phone to give up his protest.

However, some angry neighbours and business owners heckled the solicitor and gardaí, demanding to know when they could return to their homes and premises.

Pensioner Jim Moloughney, 86, said he was staying with his daughters and had not been told when he could return to his home. Asked if he had anything to say to Mr Hourigan, he replied: “Get the hell out of the house and out of the town. We don’t want him in it.”

Army bomb disposal experts had remained on standby as trained garda negotiators, with the help of the man’s estranged wife and children, battled to resolve the stand-off.

A close friend, David Moloney from O’Curry Street, Limerick, was the last person to visit Mr Hourigan on Tuesday night before the he shut himself into the house. He said a letter from a Limerick-based solicitor seeking large fees was the “last straw” for Mr Hourigan.

“I had a cup of tea with Jim after I brought him to Roscrea from Limerick on Tuesday night. I told him to deal with his complaint through paper work,” said Mr Moloney.

He said he was brought from Roscrea to Limerick by gardaí for questioning.

Mr Hourigan said he wants his compensation money to go to victims of abuse.

Earlier, a friend of Mr Hourigan, Sean Ryan, said he was in telephone contact with him twice yesterday morning.

“He said he had the doors rigged up to the bomb,” said Mr Ryan.

The alert was sparked after a teenage helper at a grocery shop on the town’s Main Street delivered shopping to Mr Hourigan’s home about 11.45am on Wednesday morning.

The boy rushed back to the shop distressed and then ran to the garda station across the street, according to the shop owner.

“He had tears rolling down his eyes. He said the man has a bomb down there and was going to blow up the street. We burst out laughing at first but then he went straight to the gardaí,” he said.

The grocer said Mr Hourigan got his provisions in the shop once a week for the past nine months and seemed to be in normal form when he came in yesterday morning.

“He ordered more bread, milk and sugar than usual. He got about 200 cigarettes and said something like: ‘Where I’m going I’ll not be able to get those for a while’.

“He was chatting away about the weather and giving out about solicitors. But that was normal — he was always giving out about them.”