Concern over convicted paedophile priest living near school

SUPPORTERS of sex abuse survivors have expressed concern that a former Catholic priest convicted of molesting nine children is living within five minutes’ walk of a school.

Former Dominican priest Vincent Mercer has been living at his order’s Black Abbey priory in Kilkenny city since he walked free from court with a suspended sentence in 2005.

Local people were shocked when his whereabouts were revealed on radio station KCLR FM yesterday, particularly as there is a CBS boys school five minutes’ walk away and a Loreto girls school also nearby.