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	Padeo Priest Packs and Leaves Dublin People [Ireland] May 23, 2007 http://www.dublinpeople.com/cms/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2601&Itemid=49 The convicted paedophile who was living just yards from a primary school in Phibsboro is reported to have packed his belongings and left the area. Local residents breathed a sigh of relief when they saw defrocked priest Oliver O'Grady leaving his rental accommodation in a taxi filled with his personal possessions. O'Grady, who admitted molesting 20 children, had been the centre of controversy since Phibsboro locals publicly revealed where the serial sex offender was living last month. Kieran Collins, chairman of the Rathdown Road and District Residents' Association, was responsible for highlighting the paedophile's move to accommodation close to St Peter's primary school. "If it is true that he has left the area completely then it is good for us," he told Northside People. "However, you have to think of the other parents and locals in the community he has moved to. "He could have moved to somewhere as inappropriate as where he was living in our community." Mr Collins said he did not know if the recent press coverage had put pressure on O'Grady to leave the area. "I don't know; it's difficult to know what affects a man like that," he said. According to Mr Collins, the general concern among Phibsboro locals is that a convicted paedophile was allowed to live near a school in the first place. "There should be protection in place for children," he said. "A convicted sex offender shouldn't have been allowed to live near a school. "We need changes to protect our children. "Our local community had to discover he was there through a newsletter; will his new community know who he is?" O'Grady spent seven years in a US prison on counts of abusing two boys and was deported to Ireland in 2000. He is not believed to be on the Sex Offenders' Register list as it only came into existence under the Sex Offenders Act 2001. "We need to be proactive, not reactive," Mr Collins concluded. In correspondence to Mr Collins last month, O'Grady's legal team revealed that the sex offender was registered with gardai on a "voluntary" basis. "This step was taken on Mr O'Grady's own initiative and it is quite true that there is no legal requirement on him to register," his solicitors wrote. "The position is that Mr O'Grady has a specific Garda contact with whom he is in touch with as required." Deputy Joe Costello (Lab) said he hoped the gardai were aware of his new place of residence. "It's good news for concerned Phibsboro locals if he has left the area for good," he told Northside People. "Such a notorious paedophile must be registered and monitored. "There should be a more suitable place for him to be."
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