Smyths victims 'want answers from Gardaí'

A solicitor representing victims of paedophile priest Father Brendan Smyth has said they want answers from the Garda Commissioner about who knew about the abuse.

Yesterday it was announced that the victims will take legal action against the Gardaí, after revelations that officers in Dublin knew about Father Smyth's sex abuse in the early 1970s.

This emerged at the Historical Institutional Abuse Inquiry in Northern Ireland, which is currently examining whether systemic failings enabled Smyth to continue his offending for so long.

Solicitor Kevin Winters said victims wanted to know how high up the information went.

"We're sending a preliminary letter raising a series of issues," he said, listing these among them:

- who was tasked with dealing with this information when it landed on someone's desk;

- how high up in seriority was the matter dealt with

- was it sinply binned or sent to somewhere else;

- was a decision taken at high level not to act on the information?

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