Basis for concern should have been reported to gardaí, HSE

IN 2007 a sacristan told a priest of concerns about Fr Zephan, who is a serving priest in the diocese, arising from an incident around 1990 when she saw him leave the altar servers’ room followed by a distressed child.

Fr Zephan became very flustered when he saw her and she reported what she saw to the parish priest who had since died. The priest with whom she brought up the issue again in 2007 reported it to Monsignor Denis O’Callaghan who told him to try to speak with the child, by now an adult living abroad.

The priest said he made efforts to contact the man but failed and Mgr O’Callaghan told him there was nothing more to do.

Mgr O’Callaghan then told Fr Zephan, who by now had been informed of the concerns and denied any such incident, that the matter had been put to rest.

Mgr O’Callaghan told the commission he made no more inquiries because of Fr Zephan’s denials and because Fr Zephan “was known to be highly eccentric in the exercise of his ministry”.

The commission said it appeared the parish priest who first received the report did nothing, and Mgr O’Callaghan did not deal with it properly. “There was a basis for concern and that should have been reported to the gardaí and the HSE.”