Celebrity priest who was attacked for speaking out against child abuse

WHILE Eamon de Valera was dreaming of comely maidens dancing at the crossroads, young boys were being flogged and buggered by a sordid assortment of perverted clergy and depraved Christian Brothers.

He should have known what was going on, but he chose to ignore it, just as we are ignoring things now.

Edward J Flanagan, who was born near the Galway village of Ballymoe in 1886, emigrated to the United States in 1904. He studied for the priesthood and was ordained in 1912 and went to minister in Nebraska. In 1917 he founded a home for homeless boys in Omaha, and later set up Boys Town about 10 miles outside the city in 1921.