Bishop urges court to halt action of man abused by Smyth

A Catholic Bishop has urged the High Court to stop him being sued by a man who received £25,000 (€30,341) after settling his Northern Ireland court action over being sexually abused as a child by paedophile priest Fr Brendan Smyth.

The man is suing the Bishop of Kilmore, Dr Leo O’Reilly, in his representative capacity as Bishop of the Kilmore diocese, and Cardinal Sean Brady in his personal capacity arising from his role as part-time secretary to former Bishop of Kilmore, Francis McKiernan, during the investigation in 1975 into complaints about Smyth.

In separate cases, the man, his sister and a cousin allege negligence and breach of duty of care arising from failure by representatives of the Catholic Church over years to monitor and supervise Brendan Smyth and failure to stop his abuse or report it to the Garda.