Catholic Church asks Garda to examine if clerical child sex ring existed

The archbishop of Dublin Diarmuid Martin has asked the Garda to investigate whether a clerical paedophile ring was operating in the archdiocese.

Dr Diarmuid Martin made the request to the National Bureau of Criminal Investigations after he examined files on paedophile priests in recent years. He was disturbed by close connections between a number of clerics who were later convicted of child abuse, according to sources, and asked gardai to investigate.

The priests included Fr Bill Carney and Fr Francis McCarthy, neither of whom are any longer in the priesthood, and Fr Patrick Maguire, a Columban priest who is living under the strict supervision of his order. The three are among 46 priests named in the damning report by Judge Yvonne Murphy which found “no direct evidence” of a paedophile ring, but found “worrying connections” between a number of priests.

Fr Carney and Fr McCarthy worked together to prey on vulnerable children, visiting them in children's homes and, in at least one instance, abused the same child. Fr Carney and Fr Maguire brought children on swimming excursions together. Fr Carney also claimed that Fr Maguire could vouch for him when he was under investigation for abusing some of those children.

Fr Dominic Savio Boland, whose real name is John Boland, called to the home of a child who had been abused by another priest, Fr Ioannes, and proceeded to abuse the child himself.

“There is nothing in the evidence available to the commission to show how Fr Boland became aware of this young boy,” the report said.

Source: The Belfast Telegraph