Cardinal Connell denies protecting accused priest

Cardinal Desmond Connell has issued a statement denying that he tried to protect a priest accused of child abuse from a Garda investigation.

In his statement to reporters today, Cardinal Connell apologised to Mrs Marie Collins for his handling of the 1996 case.

Also in the statement the Cardinal denied that the then Chancellor for his Diocese, Monsignor Stenson, had attempted to protect Father Paul McGennis from a Garda inquiry surrounding the alleged abuse of Mrs Marie Collins.

He said that the Monsignor felt he was bound under canon law to not reveal anything he had learned to the Gardai.

Cardinal Connell added that all the admissions Father McGennis made to the Church administration had been handed over to the Gardai.

He admitting that the investigation would have been best served if the information that he held had been handed over to the Gardai earlier.