The God Squad

Victim of paedophile priest wins payout

The head of the Roman Catholic Church in Ireland has agreed to compensate a victim of the paedophile priest Father Brendan Smyth, as fresh details emerged yesterday of past cover-ups.
The High Court in Dublin was told that Cardinal Sean Brady, Archbishop of Armagh and primate of All Ireland, had made an out-of-court settlement with Brendan Boland, who had been abused by the priest for three years from the age of 12. During a church investigation in 1975 led by Cardinal Brady, Mr Boland was said to have been sworn to secrecy about his ordeal.

The settlement, reported to involve a six-figure sum, concludes Mr Boland’s 14-year fight for justice, but he expressed remorse yesterday for putting other children at risk by not speaking out. In a statement, he said: “I felt I had not done enough. I felt responsible for the misery of Father Smyth’s subsequent victims. My guilt plagued me.

Smyth died in 1997, one month into a 12-year prison sentence, after pleading guilty to 74 charges of sexual abuse on boys and girls for more than 30 years, many after the future Cardinal Brady oversaw Mr Boland’s oath.

Yesterday’s settlement prompted fresh calls for Cardinal Brady to resign. Maeve Lewis, of the support group One in Four, said: “He really should consider his position, but I think it’s pointless asking him to resign. He made his decision last year. It is just absolutely disgraceful that that man was marched to the doors of the High Court without an apology from Cardinal Brady and was put through the hoops when all he wanted was an apology.”

A new report by the Irish Church’s investigatory arm showed that Smyth’s case was by no means isolated. The National Board for Safeguarding Children found that six Catholic dioceses in Ireland have shielded child-molesting priests from the law. According to its audit, 85 parish priests in the six dioceses had been accused of sexually abusing children since 1975, but only eight were convicted. A total of 41 are still alive, 30 of whom have been laicised or left the priesthood.

The report brought expressions of regret from senior clergy. “We are truly sorry for the terrible deeds that have been inflicted on so many by a small minority of priests,” said Bishop Philip Boyce of the diocese of Raphoe.

He conceded that he and other bishops had placed the needs of victims below “the misguided attempt to protect the reputation of the Church”.

Edward Daly, the retired Bishop of Derry, said: “I am profoundly ashamed that children have been so gravely offended against by priests of the diocese. I have met a number of victims over the years and sincerely apologised to them. I greatly regret any failings or shortcomings that I may have had in dealing with these matters whilst I was in office.”

The former Bishop of Raphoe and also of Derry, Bishop Séamus Hegarty, now retired, said: “I was a diocesan bishop for 30 years . . . I look back and know that my practice in the past was sometimes poor and I am deeply sorry that anyone was hurt through my management of allegations historically.”

A former police investigator and some victims accused the bishops of whitewashing their own records. Retired detective-sergeant Martin Ridge, who investigated Raphoe’s biggest paedophile-priest case, accused the diocese of hiding or destroying its most damning documents.