Order refused in priest libel

THE High Court has refused to grant an order requiring RTÉ to urgently file its defence to claims the broadcaster libelled a priest in a programme on alleged abuse in Africa by Irish missionaries.

Fr Kevin Reynolds, acting parish priest of Ahascragh, Co Galway, says he is prepared to undergo a paternity test to prove his innocence of claims made against him in the Prime Time Investigates programme, broadcast on RTÉ One on May 23.

Fr Reynolds claims it wrongly accused him of raping an underage girl when she was a maid in a house he had frequented while in Africa and that he fathered a child with her.