IRELAND
Irish Independent
MAEVE SHEEHAN
THE Director of Public Prosecutions is to examine the Ferns Inquiry report with a view to instituting criminal proceedings against those who have abused children and also against those who may have withheld evidence, including the former bishop of the diocese, Brendan Comiskey.
Colm O'Gorman, a director of One in Four, the group for survivors of abuse, said yesterday: "It is clear from the report that Bishop Comiskey was found to have made inaccurate and misleading statements in relation to one of the most serious crimes in the statute books. Any suggestion in the Ferns report that any Church figure, including Bishop Comiskey, acted to prevent or obstruct criminal investigations into child sexual abuse should be examined, investigated and, if proven, prosecuted."
Mr O'Gorman was referring to the fact that Bishop Comiskey failed to tell gardai that a priest under investigation for abusing boys had admitted his behaviour to the prelate two years earlier. A source close to victims in the Ferns diocese said they had been given to understand that the DPP's review would include the role of anyone who was found to have withheld information from the gardai.