BISHOP OF Clonfert John Kirby has been aware since the mid-1990s that
a priest he moved following allegations of child sex abuse continued to
abuse children in his new parish, contrary to statements by the bishop
last month.
Twice last month Bishop Kirby asserted that the priest in question did not abuse children in the parish to which he moved him.
However,
the priest, sentenced to 10 years’ imprisonment in 1994 for the sexual
abuse of one child in Co Galway, told Bishop Kirby in the mid-1990s he
had abused 17 children in the diocese.
This emerged when Bishop Kirby visited the priest while he was serving his jail sentence at Arbour Hill between 1994 and 1998.
In
1990, when the priest, referred to as “Priest A” in a recent report by
the Catholic Church’s child protection watchdog, admitted to Bishop
Kirby he had abused the boy concerned, he was moved to another parish
where he abused more children.
Bishop Kirby declined to respond to
questions from The Irish Times on whether this priest abused children
in his new parish after he was moved in 1990.
However, The Irish Times has independently verified that Bishop Kirby was aware of this information.
This
newspaper also asked whether the number of child abuse complaints he
came to be aware of in the diocese overall was considerably higher than
disclosed to a recent review or in recent statements.
A review of
child protection practices in Clonfert by the Catholic Church’s child
protection watchdog, its National Board for Safeguarding Children
(NBSC), was published on September 5th last. It found nine child abuse
allegations had been made against three priests in the diocese of
Clonfert and another priest who provided holiday cover.
Just one
of the four priests has been convicted in the courts.
He has since been
laicised.
The review also found that Bishop Kirby had dealt
“inappropriately” with abuse allegations. At a press conference in
Loughrea, Co Galway, on September 5th, he acknowledged that he had moved
to other parishes two priests whom he knew had abused children.
He said
he “hadn’t a clue” 20 years ago about how paedophiles operated, and
thought it was a case of “a friendship that crossed a boundary line”.
He
said: “I profoundly regret and apologise for moving the priests
concerned to different parishes thereby placing others at serious risk .
. . Whilst no further abuse has been reported, this act was a grave
mistake on my part.”
In a “special message” read at all Masses in
Clonfert on the weekend of September 15th/16th, he repeated: “I am not
aware of any abuse allegations from the parishes to which they [the two
priests] were moved.”
The Irish Times has learned that the man
referred to as Priest A in the NBSC review of Clonfert abused a total of
17 victims in the diocese.
Nine of these were in Kiltormer
parish, from where he was removed by Bishop Kirby when it emerged in
1990 he had abused a child there. He was then moved to Creagh parish
where, it is believed, he claimed to have abused five more children.
Priest A also said he abused a further two children in Portumna and one other in the diocese.
It
is understood that Priest A disclosed all these details to Bishop
Kirby, as well as to statutory authorities, while serving his prison
sentence in Arbour Hill.
In 1994 Priest A was sentenced to 10 years, with five suspended as he pleaded guilty. He was in prison until 1998.
Priest
A gave the 17 names to Bishop Kirby after the bishop had been
approached by a mother in the diocese who was anxious to know whether
her son had been abused by Priest A.
Bishop Kirby visited Priest A at
Arbour Hill to secure the list of victims.
It did not include the woman’s son.