They say they are "extremely concerned" that Father B, as named in a church report investigating the allegations, is not being sufficiently monitored.

One woman said she felt "very hurt" and resented the fact that the priest is still highly visible in the community. She said people want answers from the diocese in relation to his supposed supervision, as pledged by the diocese.

"He is on restricted ministry but nobody knows what it is or what it means," she said.

"He still looks like he is a priest, and if people ask him to do something as a priest, instead of refusing or saying that he is on restricted ministry, he simply says he is not available on that day," she claimed.

With two more alleged victims expected to make statements to the Gardaí soon, the woman said it made things very difficult that the priest is still in the community. His presence, she claimed, could prevent others from speaking out.

"He has never been supervised properly as far as we are concerned, or had his movements restricted. He has been right there during all of this."

The woman said she felt "contaminated" when she saw the priest, and very hurt that the situation had not been dealt with years ago.

She claimed countless lives have been ruined because of the inaction of the diocese to deal with the alleged child abuser.

The first complaint against Father B was made by a girl to Bishop John Magee in 1995. A further complaint against the priest was made by a teenage boy and his mother the following September.

In December 1997 a woman wrote to the bishop saying Father B had abused her during a retreat.

In 2005, a fourth complaint was made to the diocese about Father B by a woman who claimed he had raped her regularly for five years.

There are currently four civil cases relating to the priest being processed through the courts.

Bishop Magee was under strong pressure to resign last month after the National Board for Safeguarding Children report, published in December, found the diocese was "significantly deficient" in dealing with alleged child abuse cases and "failed to focus on the needs of the vulnerable child".

The report found the bishop had delayed informing gardaí of complaints and had not removed priests immediately.

Bishop Magee has said he accepts there were failings and that he is working to ensure best practice applies in the diocese now.

A spokesman for the diocese did not answer questions yesterday about the priest’s supervision terms.