Accused psychiatrist cleared priest to return to ministry

THE consultant psychiatrist who allegedly sexually abused numerous female patients treated disgraced child abuser priest Bill Carney and gave the green light to his return to ministry.

The second section of the Murphy report on clerical sex abuse in the Dublin Archdiocese said Dr Lane O’Kelly, who died two weeks before his own trial in July 2009, was tasked with treating the abuser.

Dr O’Kelly was the subject of a series of complaints by women he treated at Belmont Park Hospital in Co Waterford, which was operated by the Brothers of Charity Services until it closed in 1992.

The two-part RTÉ documentary, Behind the Walls, broadcast interviews with these women on Monday, with a number alleging they were told to strip by Dr O’Kelly, who pleasured himself.

While complaints were made to the hospital at the time of the incidents, no action was taken.

However, in 2002, Dr O’Kelly was formally charged by gardaí in Co Waterford over allegations he sexually abused numerous female patients under his care.

The Murphy report said the consultant psychiatrist at the facility, which focused on alcohol problems, began treating Carney in September 1985 for alcohol problems.

This is despite the fact “there is no evidence it [the facility] had any expertise in child sexual abuse”.

Dr O’Kelly was briefed by the archdiocese about Carney’s history in November of that year.

The report said that Dr O’Kelly was of the view Carney had the “possibility of a return to ministry in the new year” in a “controlled situation and subject to careful monitoring”.

During the following year Dr O’Kelly informed the archdiocese he was “satisfied” with the progress of Carney, who had been placed in a ministry in south Dublin.

Carney — named as one of the worst serial offenders in the Murphy report — pleaded guilty to two counts of indecently assaulting altar boys in 1983.

He was defrocked by the Catholic Church in 1992 after being found guilty under canon law of child sex abuse.

The Murphy report sited complaints or suspicions against him by 32 named individuals. Last month, he wrote to a local newspaper in Cheltenham, Britain, where he now lives, claiming he should be given “a second chance”.

The RTÉ documentary also raised serious concerns over the level of care in Ireland’s mental health service.

Meanwhile, Amnesty International Ireland has called for an investigation into serious flaws in the psychiatric hospital system.

The group’s executive director, Colm O’Gorman, said any “allegations of serious human rights abuses” must be examined fully.