Bishop O’Mahony accused of questioning validity of Murphy report

VICTIMS support groups and clerical sex abuse victims have accused former Auxiliary Bishop of Dublin Dermot O’Mahony of questioning the validity of the Murphy report and said that if this attitude is widespread within the Church, it will never be a safe place for children.

One in Four chief executive Maeve Lewis said she found it “unthinkable” that a senior member of the clergy in the Dublin archdiocese could adopt such a stance.

Correspondence between Bishop O’Mahony and the Archbishop Diarmuid Martin was published in the Irish Catholic yesterday. The letters reveal strong anger on the behalf of retired auxiliary bishop, Dermot O’Mahony, over Archbishop Martin’s ready acceptance of the Murphy Commission’s conclusion that a culture of cover-up dogged the archdiocese’s handling of abuse complaints.