Casey unlikely to face prosecution

FORMER Bishop of Galway Eamon Casey is expected to return to ministry in an English parish as it emerges that gardaí are unlikely to seek his prosecution in relation to claims of abuse made against him in Ireland.

The allegations came to light last November after Dr Casey stepped down from his duties in the St Paul’s parish in Haywards Heath, west Sussex, where he has been serving since 1998.

It is understood that this step was taken after a middle-aged woman claimed to a British Catholic Church child protection officer that Dr Casey abused her when she was in Limerick.

But it appears that the garda file due to go to the Director of Public Prosecutions’ office shortly will recommend that no criminal case should be brought in relation to the allegation.

While the former bishop returned to Ireland to meet investigating gardaí and strongly reject the allegations, it is not clear if he is still in the country or if he has gone back to England.

But Dr Kieran Conry, bishop of the Arundel and Brighton diocese in which St Paul’s parish is located, said he would welcome Dr Casey back to his ministry if the matter has been cleared up.

Dr Casey, 79, is still in relatively good health. He had been well-respected in the parish and was particularly known for his good work at a local hospital.

Although details of the allegation made against him here were not made public, it is believe they date back a considerable length of time.

Dr Casey fled Ireland to Ecuador in disgrace in 1992 after it emerged that he had fathered a son with American divorcee Annie Murphy. At the time of Peter Murphy’s birth in 1974, Dr Casey was serving as Bishop of Kerry.

Memories of the scandal were rekindled last year when his image was seen during the broadcast of archive footage from the late Pope John Paul II’s 1979 visit to Ireland.