NORTHERN IRELAND
One in Four
Irish Independent
THE Bishop of Derry, Rev Seamus Hegarty, told parishioners in Dungiven, Co Derry, yesterday that their curate, who has been given leave of absence as the result of a sex abuse allegation, was a broken, wounded man.
Fr Andrew McCloskey (55), had admitted during masses in St Patrick's Church, Dungiven, eight days ago that he was the un-named priest reported to have paid an out-of-court settlement earlier this month to a man who claimed he had made sexual advances to him in 1992.
The €15,000 payment was made without any admission of liability. Fr McCloskey said that in 1992 he was an alcoholic. The injured party claimed that the incident occurred when he was 19 years of age after he'd gone to the priest seeking counselling.
Fr McCloskey was administrator of St Mary's Parish in the Creggan area of Derry and the incident is alleged to have taken place in the parochial house.
Posted by kshaw at January 31, 2005 08:03 AM