NORTHERN IRELAND
Belfast Telegraph
By Sarah Brett
01 March 2005
The chief of a sex abuse counselling group that employed a priest accused of a sexual assault was today tightlipped about the scandal engulfing the Derry diocese.
While priests across the North West were planning an open and transparent way of turning the Stewardship Fund debacle around, the Director of NEST, Fr Seamus O'Connell, refused to answer questions about employing Fr Andy McCloskey, who paid a £19,000 out of court settlement to a man who accused him of sexual assault.
The man was 18 at the time and Fr McCloskey has never admitted liability. He is now on an indefinite leave of absence from his Dungiven parish.
In a statement a week ago, the embattled Bishop of Derry, Seamus Hegarty said he had no part in appointing Fr McCloskey to NEST but accepted the organisation's opinion that he was good counsellor material.
He said: "Fr McCloskey's involvement in NEST as a counsellor came about following an assessment made by the professional and independent people involved in that organisation.
Posted by kshaw at March 1, 2005 09:07 AM