Former Limerick Leader reporter Anne Sheridan examines the Catholic
Church's handling of allegations against the former Bishop of Galway,
Eamonn Casey in a special documentary tonight.
The programme features an investigation conducted by RTÉ, in association with the Irish Mail on Sunday where Anne now works as a reporter.
Bishop Casey's Buried Secrets includes an interview with one of Bishop Casey’s accusers, his Limerick niece, Patricia Donovan.
Speaking for the first time on camera, she claims that he first raped her at the age of five and that the sexual abuse continued for years.
Ian Elliott, the former CEO of the National Board for Safeguarding Children in the Irish Catholic Church, who has direct knowledge of Patricia Donovan’s complaint against Bishop Casey, tells the RTÉ / Irish Mail on Sunday investigation that he found her account of what she experienced “entirely credible”, describing Bishop Casey as, on balance of probabilities, “an offender, a sexual predator. The fact of the matter is that individuals have come forward and spoken about… numerous sexual activities, some consensual, others not. Many involved very young people. That is wrong and there is no justification for that, and it should have been stopped… Those that have been distressed and hurt should be helped and supported by the Church. That is a major priority.”
Patricia Donovan tells the documentary: “Some of the things he did to me, and where he did them… The horror of being raped by him when I was five, the violence. And it just carried on in that vein… He had no fear of being caught. He thought he could do what he liked, when he liked, how he liked… He was almost, like, incensed that I would dare fight against him, that I would dare try and hurt him, I would dare try and stop him... It didn’t make any difference.”
In 2019, Galway Diocese informed reporter Anne Sheridan that it had received just one allegation of child sexual abuse against Bishop Eamonn Casey. It has since confirmed that it had records at that time of “five people who had complained of childhood sexual abuse against Bishop Casey.” These independent accusations relate to alleged events in every Irish diocese where Bishop Casey worked.
Bishop Casey's Buried Secrets also reveals how the Limerick Diocese paid over €100,000 in settlement to one of Bishop Casey’s accusers after Casey’s death. The current Bishop of Limerick, Dr Brendan Leahy, who has access to documents relating to complaints made in his diocese says: “I express deep sorrow and regret to anyone who has been wounded by clerical abuse, including the people referred to in this documentary. They deserve our respect, belief and support. Without commenting on any specific allegation, I have no reason to disbelieve any of the allegations made.”
In an exceptional public statement issued to the documentary, the Vatican confirms, for the first time, that Bishop Casey was formally removed from public ministry in 2007, following “allegations” that, RTÉ has established, included his niece Patricia Donovan’s complaint of child sexual abuse. That restriction continued for the last ten years of his life but was never publicly disclosed in Bishop Casey’s lifetime.
The RTÉ documentary has also discovered evidence that Bishop Casey violated the Vatican’s sanctions on several occasions, presenting himself in public as a priest in good standing over several years. Galway Diocese has confirmed this but stated that the late Bishop Martin Drennan, who was responsible for policing the restrictions, reprimanded Dr Casey whenever he was made aware of such breaches.
In early 2006, the Irish Bishops announced that Eamonn Casey was moving back to Ireland from England to retire. By this stage, the Vatican had now received at least two allegations of child sexual abuse against Bishop Casey. Although the DPP decided not to prosecute him, Church investigations were ongoing.
After repeated requests for information, the Vatican has now issued an exceptional statement to RTÉ, confirming that, by 2006, following unspecified “allegations”, “Bishop Casey had been requested not to publicly exercise the ministry” and that this was “reiterated formally” a year later. The statement also revealed that “He was never reinstated… despite insistence from him and on his behalf” and “regardless of the outcome of the civil procedures.” When RTÉ requested clarification from Archbishop Charles Scicluna, the President of the Vatican department responsible for handling complaints of child sexual abuse, he replied that: “Cases concerning Bishops are reserved to the Holy Father personally and only the Secretariat of State would be in a position to share information.”
Bishop Casey consistently denied all the allegations of child sexual abuse made against him. Although all the complaints were reported to An Garda Síochána, he was never charged with, or prosecuted for, any sexual crimes. He was prepared to go to court to defend his reputation after two of his accusers brought civil cases against him.
Despite his resignation as Bishop of Galway in 1992, he remained a Bishop until his dying day and claimed his removal from the ministry was unjust. The documentary hears from friends, colleagues and supporters, who still find it hard to believe the allegations made against him. However, the Vatican has declined to say what investigative process was followed or whether the sanctions it imposed on Bishop Casey were punitive or precautionary.
Bishop Casey’s niece, Patricia Donovan, tells the documentary: “I feel so absolutely and completely and utterly betrayed by the Church I was brought up in.”
Former President of Ireland Mary McAleese was legal advisor to the
Irish Bishops on the day the story broke in 1992 about Bishop Eamonn
Casey’s affair with a young woman, Annie Murphy, with whom he had a
child. She tells the RTÉ documentary: "He was very beloved and there
are people who are prepared to forgive everything. But then, maybe, do
they know everything?"