It seems that all is not yet done and dusted in relation to the whole issue relative to disgraced priest, Fr Con Desmond, formerly parish priest in the Diocese of Killaloe under the stewardship of Bishop Willie Walsh (pictured), who had to strenuously defend his handling of this situation in the last few days and may have to continue doing so for some time to come.Fr Desmond was accused of having indecently assaulted a young man during the 1980’s whilst a teacher in the De La Salle primary school in Stephen Street in the city of Waterford. He was ordained into the Diocese of Killaloe and promoted to the position of parish priest of Kilimer in 2001 and the following year the first allegations of improper behaviour were made to the Gardaí. Bishop Walsh then suspended Fr Desmond upon being informed of the allegations, and he remains suspended from ministry ever since, whilst still living in Ennis. Co. Clare.
His case came before Waterford Circuit Criminal Court towards the end of 2006 where he apologised for his actions, ordered to pay compensation to his victim, placed on the Sex Offenders register for a period of 5 years and also incurred a 3 year suspended sentence. Recently, Bishop Walsh indicated that he would be consulting with the Diocesan Child Protection Committee in relation to a possible placement of Fr Desmond within the Diocese but not necessarily in a position of ministry which has provoked outrage and serious questioning of the Bishop’s actions in the matter.
This will not be helped further by the revelations that more allegations have now been made against Fr Desmond by another student who also attended the same school from which the first allegations stemmed in 2002. The incidents are alleged to have happened around the mid-1980’s, around much the same time as those allegations of which Desmond has now been convicted including having assaulted a pupil 3 times in his office and 3 times in his car whilst travelling to and from hurling training.
Bishop Walsh had insisted that Desmond attend a psychiatrist for assessment who verbally reported to him (ie the Bishop) that Desmond did not constitute a danger to children and that Desmond never told him of any abuse perpetrated by Desmond against anyone but only to say that he (Desmond) felt under general stress due to the saturation in the Irish media of the Child Abuse Scandal then afflicting the Irish Catholic Church.
The Bishop, now turned 72, has been asked pertinent questions by OneinFour Organisation and also by RTÉ but has so far failed to answer these questions in a public fashion, but the public may well yet be making up their own mind on this one already.
Testing times for a bishop who for so long has been respected and accepted as the compassionate side of the Irish Purple Parliament - but now a bishop under severe scrutiny for trying to apply both compassion and practicality to what is a very tenuous situation.