Bishop defends handling of sex abuse case

BISHOP Willie Walsh said yesterday that he was satisfied with his handling of a case involving a priest and former De La Salle brother who was convicted last month of sexually abusing a 10-year-old boy.

A complaint was made to gardaí in 2002 about Con Desmond, a priest attached to Bishop Walsh’s Killaloe diocese, and he was subsequently given a three-year suspended sentence last month after pleading guilty to the sexual abuse of a 10-year-old boy in the early 1980s.

Last night, Bishop Walsh said in a statement that he had no knowledge of any child abuse committed by Con Desmond before or after he was a priest in his diocese until gardaí told him about the complaint in October of 2002.