Diocese urges victims of paedophile Fr Malachy Finnegan to contact them

Notorious paedophile Fr Malachy Finnegan, who served in the Diocese of Dromore in Co. Down, had worked as a curate in Rosenallis in the Slieve Bloom mountains from 1953 to 1956. File photo: Alan Lewis

Survivors of clerical sexual abuse or “sexual grooming” are being urged to contact a Catholic diocese where a priest who served in Laois also worked.

Notorious paedophile Fr Malachy Finnegan, who served in the Diocese of Dromore in Co. Down, had worked as a curate in Rosenallis in the Slieve Bloom mountains from 1953 to 1956.

The disgraced cleric, who died in 2002, taught in St Colman's College in Newry from 1967 to 1976 and was president of the college from 1976 to 1987. Seven years later, details of the first allegation against him emerged, in 1994.

Although he was never prosecuted, allegations against him were investigated by the Catholic Church's clerical abuse watchdog, the National Board for Safeguarding Children, in 2011.

The Diocese of Kildare and Leighlin - which covers Laois - insisted in 2018 it had "no knowledge or record of any complaint or allegation” against him, but a Northern Ireland diocesan source has told the Irish Examiner: “Just because it is not publicly known whether or not he abused children in the south doesn’t mean he didn’t.

There are victims of his the Church knows are out there but they have not come forward.

The appeal for survivors to come forward has been made today by the Diocese of Dromore, which has also announced a redress scheme for people who were abused by diocesan priests. The announcement follows the launch of a number of legal claims against the diocese by survivors.

Archbishop Eamon Martin now wants “to facilitate a resolution process to enable the provision of financial and other support for survivors without undue further delay”.

As well as the provision of financial redress, the Redress Scheme includes “the possibility of a personal apology” on behalf of the Diocese and other ways of providing pastoral support, including counselling.

In a statement today, the Diocese said: “The Diocese of Dromore apologises unreservedly for the hurt and damage caused to victims and survivors of any priest or church representative acting under its authority.

“The Diocese of Dromore finds such behaviour towards children and vulnerable people abhorrent, inexcusable and indefensible.

“The Diocese is committed to doing what it can to help bring healing to the survivors of clerical sexual abuse, and to all those affected by these egregious crimes.” They said the new redress scheme will be open to “victims and survivors” of child sexual abuse suffered at the hands of representatives of the Diocese.

They added: “It endeavours to ensure a process which is victim-centred and aims to provide victims with recognition and reasonable compensation without the need for lengthy investigation and litigation.

“The Diocese is willing to commit whatever resources it has available for the purpose of redress to this scheme, even if that should exhaust those resources.

“The Scheme will respond to applications where there are allegations of sexual abuse, including sexual grooming.” They say this abuse “may or may not have been accompanied by physical and/or emotional abuse”, and which occurred when the applicant was under the age of 18.