Paedophile caretaker worked for youth group

Ireland's leading youth group has confirmed that paedophile Michael Ferry worked as a volunteer at one of its clubs.

Foroige said the 55-year-old serial child rapist worked with children for the organisation in Co Donegal between 1984 and 1987.

Both the Health Service Executive (HSE) and the gardaí have been contacted to make them aware of the revelations, a Foroige spokeswoman said.

"Foroige wishes to assure the public that child protection is a priority for our organisation," she said.

"The most stringent child protection policies and procedures are currently in place.

"These include an application process, Garda vetting, a system of reference checks and Foroige's own organisational child protection guidelines and training, which are derived from and consistent with Children First."

The Foroige spokeswoman said Ferry has had no involvement with the organisation "to the best of our knowledge" for the past 24 years.