- 1978: Walsh is ordained — but he admits he has abused before that. Two days after his appointment to Ballyfermot parish in July 1978, a complaint is received that he had sexually abused an eight-year-old boy at the house of fellow abuser Fr Noel Reynolds. The boy’s parents speak to a priest who speaks to the secretary of Archbishop Dermot Ryan.
In a file to the
Archbishop a note refers to a "homosexual incident involving a young
lad... and a newly ordained Dublin diocesan priest". A vicar general,
Monsignor Richard Glennon, is appointed to investigate the matter.
Following an interview with Walsh, Monsignor Glennon notes in Latin
the alleged abuse as involving: "kisses, embraces and shameless
touching".
Walsh claims the boy had been merely sitting on his
knee. The vicar general notes: "Fr [Jovito] impressed me as telling
the truth." Nothing further is done. "Fr Jovito" is the pseudonym the
commission gives to Tony Walsh.
- 1979: A complaint is made by the mother of a 14-year-old boy alleging he was abused by Walsh in Ballyfermot in 1978 and 1979. The parish priest tells the mother he will contact the Archbishop’s house. After hearing nothing, the boy’s mother contacts the parish priest of Ballyfermot, Canon Val Rogers, seeking some action. Fr Michael Cleary is sent to the boy’s house some time in early 1980 "to educate him on issues of male sexuality".
In 1985, Canon Rogers tells Monsignor Alex Stenson that matters were "hushed up" at the time of the mother’s complaint.
- Early 1980s: In 2003, gardaí investigating complaints against Walsh are told about Walsh’s activities with a number of young girls attending a summer camp in the period 1980- 1982 . There is no record of this complaint in the archdiocesan files and no action is taken.
- Early 1985: Fr Donal O’Doherty parish priest of Ballyfermot from 1984 later said he was given a "veiled warning" by Archbishop Ryan about Walsh "without stating exactly what his concerns were".
Fr O’Doherty tells
Monsignor Stenson that Walsh was close to the altar boys. Walsh was
"very involved" with a particular altar boy and Fr O’Doherty had caught
him behaving in what he described as "preliminaries".
- April 1985: A couple complain to Monsignor Stenson that Walsh has interfered with their daughter. Around the same time, the parents of a 14-year-old boy tell their local priests they are concerned about Walsh’s frequent visits to their son. Later in April 1985, Monsignor Stenson meets Walsh and Walsh "denies nothing". He admits involvement with the young boy in Ballyfermot and another incident with a young boy in Wicklow. Monsignor Stenson warns Walsh and says Walsh is agreeable to going to a psychiatrist adding that the paedophile is grateful he had been given a "second chance".
- October 1985: A parent complains to Fr O’Doherty that Walsh has indecently assaulted a young girl.
Fr O’Doherty reports this to the Bishop Dermot O’Mahony who then tells
Monsignor Stenson. Walsh denies this allegation. No further inquiries
are made and no new treatment considered. Walsh is removed from
Ballyfermot and appointed to Westland Row and the Archbishop’s letter
appointing him states: "I take this opportunity to thank you for your
dedicated work in Ballyfermot." The commission describes the letter as
"astonishing".
In 2002, the housekeeper in Walsh’s house in
Ballyfermot tells gardaí there were always young children in the house
and that on one occasion she was met by two young boys coming out of his
bedroom and on another occasion she recalled Fr Michael Cleary breaking
into "Fr Jovito’s" room and having an argument with him. She said she
told another priest who lived in the house of her concerns, but he did
not say anything in response.
Meanwhile, a priest helping the
mother of the 1979 complainant said of the Archbishop’s response to the
woman: "I think that [the mother] may be forgiven if she regards this
letter as an attempt to sweep the matter under a carpet."
- January 1987: The housekeeper to the administrator in Westland Row claims she found items of her clothing in Walsh’s room including underwear which, she said, had been "used". She also found condoms and syringes in his room. She further mentioned that a number of boys had slept overnight in his bed and a boy from Ballyfermot had been visiting. Walsh denies the allegations.
- May 1988: Parents complain to the Archbishop that Walsh interfered with their daughter while sitting her on his knee at a concert. Walsh claims he had been drunk and could not remember doing anything.
But he opens up and the commission
says he admits to abuse on a scale which was, by any standards,
staggering. Monsignor Stenson recorded as follows:
"It began
he claims as a Deacon. He used help altar boys when they visited
Clonliffe as a student but he had no problems then. He mentioned how he
can go into a class of 30 children and treat 29 as anyone would. But one
may cause the spark.
"He admitted that over the eight years
in Ballyfermot he was involved with boys about once a fortnight. "He
believes they didn’t realise what was happening. He would have them on
his knee and reach a climax. He denies ever doing anything ‘queer’ with
them. He seems to recognise now that some were conscious that his
behaviour was wrong — hence the complaints.
"[Walsh] was genuinely shocked by the contents of the file spreading back over 10 years — not that he saw it all."
On request, Walsh writes out an account of his "difficulties" in which he admits sexual attraction to children.
- May 1988: 10 years after the first complaint was made, the Archbishop decides to send Walsh to Stroud for treatment. A month later, Monsignor Stenson notes the following comments made by a psychologist from Stroud: "[J] is extremely compulsive — there have been an awful lot of children involved. He is a very disturbed man. He is always going to be dangerous. He could not be let near schools, children, Confession without a grille etc..."
- April 1990: Archbishop Desmond Connell and Monsignor Stenson meet Walsh and tell him the only options available to him are voluntary laicisation or dismissal. He is given until May 1 to make a decision.
There is further
correspondence between a number of senior church figures after which
Monsignor Gerard Sheehy, says of one meeting: "(It was) probably the
most depressing meeting that I have ever attended. There was not a
single word, from anyone, about the fact that we are dealing with a
disordered person. The whole thrust was: ‘how best can we get rid of
him?’... To crown my depression, Bishop [Eamonn] Walsh made the
outrageous suggestion that the Archbishop should inform the civil
authorities about Fr [Walsh’s] homosexual orientation."
- September 1990: Walsh’s deadline is extended to allow him a leave of absence for a year. He is not allowed practice any ministry or wear clerical clothes, but while he is supposed to be living in a rehabilitation centre, it is discovered he has moved out.
- March 1991: A scout leader and a parent contact the Archdiocese to report that Walsh is back in Dublin. He is seen with a boy in his car and calling frequently to this boy’s house.
- March 1991: A bishops’ meeting decides to institute a penal process against Walsh. The bishops also discuss informing the Gardaí but do not do so.
- June 1991: Monsignor Stenson meets a young man from Ballyfermot who says he was abused by Walsh in 1980/1981 when he was aged about 12. This complainant tells him Walsh had started to frequent Ballyfermot again around 1990 and was continuing to do so.
- August 1991: Walsh approaches a young boy in Drumcondra and asks him to get into the car. The boy immediately goes home and tells his mother. The following day he called to the boy’s house. The mother calls gardaí who contact Mellifont Abbey, Co Meath. A priest in Mellifont tells gardaí Walsh was there because there were numerous allegations of paedophilia against him and referred them to the Archdiocese. The gardaí circulate Walsh’s car number and a description of Walsh as being likely to engage in paedophilia. No attempt is made at that stage to investigate the statement that Walsh had been sent to Mellifont because of numerous allegations of paedophilia.
- September 1991: The Archbishop orders Walsh to live in St John of God psychiatric hospital. On the night before he is due to enter St John of God’s, he attempts to persuade a young boy, aged 11, whom he had baptised, into his car. The boy refuses. He then follows the boy to his house and attempts to persuade his sister that the boy should go out with him. The family call gardaí. In an interview with his psychologist the following day "Fr Jovito" described the boy as "incredibly good looking".
A few
days later, a garda investigating the concerns expressed in August 1991
rings Monsignor Stenson inquiring about Walsh’s whereabouts after
gardaí from another station had been in touch about a young boy who had
recently been approached by Walsh outside a shopping centre. Monsignor
Stenson’s note of these contacts with the garda ends: "[the garda]
assured me that there was ‘no question of prosecution’ — asked has he a
history etc. I indicated that we had been concerned about him".
The garda has since said Monsignor Stenson told him that the Church
was carrying out an internal investigation into the paedophile
activities of Walsh and that he had asked for the garda’s co-operation.
At around this time the garda’s report also records that Fr Willie
Walsh called to Whitehall station stating that he had been appointed to
carry out an internal investigation into the paedophile activities. The
commission said that, for all practical purposes, any garda
investigation into Walsh’s activities ended at this point.
Meanwhile, according to a report from the hospital, Walsh admitted in St John of God’s that he abused 100 boys.
- January 1992: After returning to the British clinic, Walsh is allowed to roam the streets of the nearby large city unsupervised. He dresses in clerical attire and says Mass in local churches. He befriends a family with young children and babysits for the family. By chance, the father of the children calls to the clinic where the true story emerges. Walsh is immediately returned to Ireland.
- January 1992: The process to dismiss Walsh begins almost a year after the decision was made to do so.
He fights the dismissal at every stage. In April, he gives evidence
admitting to abusing five named individuals and to approximately 100
instances of abuse in respect of 10 unnamed children. He said that he
had had another 80, 90 or possibly 100 children sitting on his knee in
Ballyfermot and agrees he was sexually aroused.
Nonetheless,
he complains about most of the treatment he has received and wants to
remain a priest. "I will continue to fight. I intend doing this because I
believe that it is the Archbishop of Dublin and Alex Stenson versus
[Walsh] and God and who can fight against God?".
- July 1992: Walsh befriends a 15-year-old boy and makes arrangements to go bowling with him. One of the boy’s parents, who is a garda, contacts a local priest who in turn contacts the chancellery. Walsh denies any sexual intent.
- December 1992: A couple reports to Monsignor Stenson that Walsh has been calling to their home and one day they discovered their 10-year-old son sitting on his lap. A few days later one of the parents tells Monsignor Stenson that Walsh has called into the local scouts meeting saying he is "attached to Clonliffe".
- August 1993: The penal process finds Walsh should be dismissed from the clerical state.
- October 1993: Walsh appeals to Rome against the decision and it allows his appeal saying he ought to remain in the clerical state provided he enter a monastery for a period of 10 years.
- May 1994: A young boy reports to the gardaí in Ballyfermot that he has been sexually assaulted by Walsh in the toilet of a pub following the funeral of the boy’s grandfather. The family alleged that a similar incident had happened a year earlier but they did not report it at the time.
- Early 1995: Walsh admits to gardaí that he had indecently assaulted two boys in the 1980s. However, he denies sexually assaulting brothers whose mother had recently been in touch with Monsignor Stenson and who, on his advice, had reported the matter to the gardaí.
- February 1995: Walsh is charged in the District Court with sexual assault in relation to the boy who had been molested after his grandfather’s funeral. Walsh pleads not guilty. He is convicted and sentenced to 12 months imprisonment. He appealed both conviction and sentence. The appeal was subsequently withdrawn when he was convicted of further offences in December 1997.
- May 1995: The Archdiocese contacts gardaí and tells them about the other complaints which had come to the attention of other garda stations. Archbishop Connell instructs Monsignor Stenson to contact known complainants to make them aware that Walsh is facing criminal charges and to empower them to make complaints to gardaí.
- Late 1995: The Archdiocese starts trying to find a monastery for him but none will take him.
Archbishop Connell writes to the judicial body in Rome and outlines
his disappointment at its decision to allow Walsh’s appeal his
dismissal.
- July 1995: Walsh is charged with further sexual offences in the District Court. In November 1995, gardaí tell Monsignor Stenson all garda stations had been asked to collate all cases they had concerning Walsh.
- November 1995: Following a number of letters to Rome, Archbishop Connell contacted a senior member of the Curia in Rome in order to petition Pope John Paul II to dismiss Walsh. The plea is successful and in January 1996, a decree was issued by Cardinal Ratzinger confirming that the Pope had dismissed Walsh. Walsh tries to appeal against the Pope’s decision.
- July 1996: Walsh is awarded £10,500 in severance pay.
- June 1997: Walsh pleads guilty to seven charges in respect of four complainants. He pleaded not guilty to four other charges. The young man who was the subject of the 1979 complaint contacts the Archdiocese in November 1997 and complained about the inadequate response of Bishop Kavanagh to the complaint by his parents in 1979. He says that, had a more robust response been taken at the appropriate time, further abuses could have been avoided.
- December 1997: At Dublin Circuit Criminal Court, Walsh pleads guilty to approximately 12 counts of indecent assault and gross indecency in respect of six boys. He is sentenced to consecutive terms in prison of six and four years.
Subsequently, on appeal to the Court of Criminal Appeal, in August
1998, the prison sentences are upheld but imposed on a concurrent basis
effectively reducing the prison term from ten to six years. Further
complaints continue to emerge during the late 1990s and in the 2000s.
SIC: IXE/IE