Walsh a 'serial paedophile' - Martin

Catholic Archbishop of Dublin Diarmuid Martin said former priest Tony Walsh was another Brendan Smyth who should been dealt with much earlier.

Dr Martin was speaking on RTÉ radio this afternoon. 

He said procrastination and negotiation were part of the climate in which paedophiles flourished.

“Tony Walsh is an example of the classic serial paedophile on the same level as Brendan Smyth. The first lesson to be learned is the only way to deal with people like him is to stop them immediately. Procrastination and negotiation are part of the climate in which such paedophiles flourish,” he said.

He described details of the Murphy report dealing with Walsh “frightening” and said he could not understand why the Church had failed to realise it was dealing with a crime.

Dr Martin added that he slept better knowing that Walsh was in prison rather than wandering the streets.

“What worries me is that two days after his ordination, an allegation came in about him. He should never have been appointed,” he said.

He criticised the clergy involved for not informing gardaí and for not doing what they promised parents who complained about Walsh they said they would do, namely to keep Walsh away from children.

He said former Dublin archbishop Desmond Connell fought very hard to remove Walsh from the priesthood, including making a direct intervention to the pope.

“It was important to give a signal that there was no room in the priesthood for people who abused children. Walsh was in complete denial. He continued, after being stripped of the priesthood, to celebrate mass, dressed in something very close to clerical robes and very nearly got elected as president of a credit union. He is a very devious man and a continued risk to children,” he said.

Connect, a telephone-based counselling and support service funded by the HSE, will be open tonight and over the weekend following today's publication.

Providing professional counselling to survivors of abuse, the service will be open from 6pm to 10pm tonight and on Saturday and Sunday evenings.

Call  freephone 1800 477 477 from the Republic of Ireland and 00800 477 477 77 from Northern Ireland.

Connect chief executive officer Anne Richardson said the service received a large volume of calls at the time of the launch of the Ryan and Murphy reports and was expecting an increase in calls over the coming days.

Further information is available from www.connectcounselling.ie

The Dublin Rape Crisis Centre (DRCC) also urged anyone affected by today’s revelations to make use of the  supports available. The centre runs a free 24-hour national helpline on 1800 77 88 88.

“Reading this chapter reminds not only the victims, but their families also, of how they were fobbed off year in year out by the authorities in the Church and made to wait and suffer years of further torment and turmoil, until they eventually got justice,” said Ellen O’Malley-Dunlop chief executive of the DRCC.

“Today we can read the full truth of the extent of the sexual abuse of children by Tony Walsh and the cover up and the delays that further traumatised the victims and their families. Let us hope that this part of Irish history is well and truly in the past never to be repeated.”

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