A FERNS priest accused of abusing young children has been defrocked by the Vatican.Father John Kinsella, formerly of The Ballagh, Co Wexford, becomes the sixth priest in the Ferns diocese to be dismissed by papal decree.
News of the latest Irish priest to be laicised, following a recent canonical hearing in Rome, comes as the Dublin archdiocese braces itself for a damning report on clerical sex abuse in the country's largest diocese.
The report of the Dublin Archdiocese Commission of Investigation, chaired by Circuit Court Judge Yvonne Murphy, is set to dwarf the Ferns inquiry in the scale of abuse of children and the failure of senior Church officials to prevent it.
The Ferns investigation identified more than 100 allegations of sex abuse made between 1962 and 2002 against 21 priests.
The report will be published months after the former archbishop of Dublin, Cardinal Desmond Connell, dropped his controversial High Court action claiming privilege over 5,586 documents submitted to the Dublin inquiry by his successor, Archbishop Diarmuid Martin.
The Ferns diocese has confirmed to the Irish Independent that six of its priests have now been defrocked, and insisted that all allegations of abuse are handled in line with papal directions received in 2001.
The defrocking of Fr Kinsella brings to an end a fraught history for the diocese, as he never faced criminal charges arising from allegations of abuse.
Six years ago, Fr Kinsella stepped down from ministry in The Ballagh, Co Wexford.
He was cleared of any wrongdoing by an inquiry set up by former Bishop of Ferns Brendan Comiskey after the allegations emerged some years earlier.
When the claims resurfaced, caretaker Bishop Eamonn Walsh initiated another inquiry.
After a separate garda inquiry, a file went to the Director of Public Prosecutions, but there was no prosecution.
Last year, Fr Kinsella was at the centre of a civil case taken by three men who claimed they had been abused by him and that the Ferns diocese was liable. It was struck out mid-hearing at the High Court.
One of the men who took part in the civil action last night welcomed reports of Fr Kinsella's dismissal.
"The terms of the settlement of the litigation preclude me from discussing the case," said Anthony Doyle.
"But if that is the case [that he has been defrocked], then people can draw their own conclusions.
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