Bishop Casey and his son reunite

The son of Bishop Eamon Casey has spoken of his joy at being reunited with his ill father for the first time in almost a decade.

Peter Murphy flew into Ireland two weeks ago for an appearance on the Late Late Show to speak about being at centre of the first major scandal to hit the Irish church with little expectation of meeting his 86-year-old father, who has Alzheimer’s disease.

The fall from grace of the Kerry bishop after revelations that he had fathered a child with Peter Murphy’s mother, Annie, rocked the country when they emerged in 1992.

His son told the Tubridy Show yesterday that he was delighted to receive an invitation to see his father 20 minutes after his chat show appearance.

He said: “I feel incredibly lucky I got to see him again. I was very happy to see him and very happy he was as with us as he was.

“We were able to talk again. You can’t help but feel something like this coming out of the blue was meant [to be]. It was great.

“He was with some of his family from over here. He was vibrant and definitely had his wits with him. It was very good.

“It couldn’t have worked out better. We talked for about an hour-and-a-half with him there and his family. I couldn’t have expected it to be a better circumstance.”

He said it had been nearly a decade since his last face-to-face meeting with his father in America.

He said: “It was at least eight years if not nine. We had a meal. We enjoyed it. We had a good time.

“I didn’t know I wouldn’t see him again for a long time. The expectation was I would meet him again the following year. It was his health.”

His last phone conversation was with his father in 2009, a few years after their restaurant meeting but he appeared confused to his son.

“We had a conversation that he obviously quite confused and it just worked its way out that he wasn’t able to take any more trips anymore,” he said yesterday.

He said he was very conscious that he didn’t wish to upset his father, who is now believed to be in a nursing home.

The 39-year-old, who runs a retail outlet in Boston, said they both ended the meeting on very good terms.