Trail of ‘notorious child sexual abuser’

-1954: Tony Walsh is born.

- 1978: Walsh is ordained — but he admits he has abused before that. Two days after his appointment to Ballyfermot parish in July 1978, a complaint is received that he had sexually abused an eight-year-old boy at the house of fellow abuser Fr Noel Reynolds. The boy’s parents speak to a priest who speaks to the secretary of Archbishop Dermot Ryan.

In a file to the Archbishop a note refers to a “homosexual incident involving a young lad... and a newly ordained Dublin diocesan priest”. A vicar general, Monsignor Richard Glennon, is appointed to investigate the matter.