Sunday, July 17, 2011

Education department criticised in case of two college priests

BOTH Mgr O’Callaghan and the Department of Education are criticised in the case of two priests in a diocesan college.

A man named Thomas (not his real name) alleged in May 2002 that the two priests abused him sexually while he was a student in a diocesan college in the late 1960s and early 1970s.

The Garda conducted a thorough investigation into the matter and found that none of his classmates had experienced any sexual abuse.

Thomas’s siblings also confirmed there had never been any mention of the abuse in the family home.

During his late teens, Thomas had attended a psychiatric hospital and the Garda received confirmation from his attending doctor that Thomas had never complained of sexual abuse. 

Both priests strenuously denied the allegations.

The commission was critical of the fact that the Department of Education did not initially provide any documentation to the commission in relation to this claim in the "erroneous belief" that it was outside its terms of reference.

The commission was again stridently critical of Mgr O’Callaghan’s handling of the case.

"Far from putting the procedures in place, he did nothing. The commission considers it unlikely that he asked the two priests about the case.

"His conclusion that allegations did not have a semblance of truth may be reasonable, but there is no evidence that he came to this conclusion in a reasonable manner.

"He seems to have made no inquiries at all," it found.