Ferns priests shamed in damning report

Some 21 Catholic priests savagely sexually assaulted young boys and girls in parishes across Co Wexford in Ireland during the past 40 years, a scathing report into clerical abuse revealed today.

A two-year investigation uncovered 100 complaints of abuse, with one priest responsible for 26 assaults.

The report revealed Garda investigations were wholly inadequate, while bishops in the Diocese of Ferns failed to take basic precautions to protect children.

Retired Supreme Court Judge Frank Murphy, who headed the probe, said steps taken by Bishop Donal Herlihy were inadequate and inappropriate. The reports stated the deceased Bishop did not recognise that child sex abuse was a serious criminal offence.

A second senior clergyman, Bishop Brendan Comiskey was also heavily criticised. The report stated he had consistently failed to have priests step aside because he considered it unjust as allegations of abuse were not substantiated.

Judge Murphy found that the Bishop failed to recognise the paramount need to protect children as a matter of urgency, from potential abusers.

Gardaí were blamed for not keeping records of informal complaints of abuse including an allegation that 10 children were molested at the altar in the parish church of Monageer.

The 270-page report stemming from an investigation begun in 2002, details the Catholic Church’s handling of more than 100 allegations of abuse against dozens of priests in the Diocese of Ferns from the 1960s.

A total of 100 abuse claimants were interviewed during the inquiry.

The inquiry detailed how priests were shifted from one parish to another following allegations of abuse.

In 1966 Bishop Herlihy moved a priest from Wexford to the Diocese of Westminster, which was not told the reason why. The priest was given no treatment, and two years later returned to the south-east of Ireland.

In 1973 another priest who faced sex abuse allegations was also transferred to Westminster.

In a third instance during the 1980s, the bishop sent two priests to a professor in University College Dublin for assessment and, following unfavourable reports, both were appointed as curates.

Bishop Comiskey believed priests should be removed from active ministry when allegations were made against them. While he received complaints against 10 living priests and four others who had died, none of them were forced to step aside from active ministry while under his control.

Bishop Comiskey was found to have conducted inquiries or attempted to begin investigations, but these proved to be protracted and inconclusive.

The report also revealed money was paid to complainants if the priest had died.

The report stated that restoring priests to their former positions following complaints was ill-advised, inadequate and inappropriate.

The failure of bishops to act on unfavourable reports was inexplicable, and represented a wholly inappropriate and inadequate response, it stated.

Bishop Comiskey, who stepped down as the Church’s senior clergyman in Ferns in 2002, was found to have been unable or unwilling to act on advice from experts regarding the behaviour of priests.

The report stated the bishop was conscious of the need to protect the good name and reputation of clergy, but failed to recognise the need to protect children from abusers.

Examining the response of the South Eastern Health Board to allegations of abuse, the inquiry found that it acted appropriately in the cases of four priests.

But the report stated its response was inconsistent.

Highlighting one of the most brutal claims of abuse, the inquiry found counselling and support was only offered to 10 children abused by one priest seven years after the alleged incident.

Judge Murphy reported that, before 1990, there appeared to be a reluctance by individual gardaí to properly investigate allegations of abuse.

It stated the garda inquiry into the allegations made by the 10 children was neither adequate nor appropriate.