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	Gardai Probe Church 'Child Sex Ring' By Cormac Looney Herald November 30, 2009 http://www.herald.ie/national-news/gardai-probe-church-child-sex-ring-1958918.html A GARDA investigation into the possibility of a paedophile ring in the Dublin Archdiocese is centering on two priests who abused the same child. Fears are growing that an organised network of abuse was established among sex-abuser priests in the capital. These follow reports that Archbishop Diarmuid Martin asked gardai to formally investigate if such a ring existed. The probe is centering on the abuse perpetrated by former priests Bill Carney and Francis McCarthy, a source said. They worked together to prey on vulnerable children, visiting them in children's homes. In at least one case, they abused the same child. Carney (59) and McCarthy (59) brought children on swimming excursions together. Orphaned Carney claimed that a third priest, Fr Patrick Maguire (73), could vouch for him when he was under investigation for abusing some children. Fr Maguire remains in the priesthood. The 1970s activities of Carney and McCarthy are now the focus of the paedophile-ring investigation. It is being carried out by detectives from the National Bureau of Criminal Investigation (NBCI). This unit is charged with investigating the State's serious crimes. The pair targeted children in residential homes, where orphaned or troubled children were housed due to punishment or poverty. They targeted St Joseph's in Dun Laoghaire, the Grange in south Dublin, St Vincent's in Drogheda and Lakelands in Sandymount, and abused children in each. Reports of the formal request by Archbishop Martin to gardai follow comments in the report by the Commission of Investigation into the Catholic Archdiocese of Dublin that "worrying connections" existed between a number of priests in the Dublin Archdiocese. Despite this, the report's author Judge Yvonne Murphy said she could find "no direct evidence" of a paedophile ring. But a garda source said: "The files are being re-examined for evidence of a systematic and organised system of child abuse among certain individuals." Along with Carney-Maguire links, the NBCI is also examining whether two or more priests abused the same boy, after one tipped the other off to the child. Fr Dominic Savio Boland, whose real name is John Boland, called to the home of a child (11) who had been abused by another priest, Fr Ioannes, and proceeded to abuse the child himself. "There is nothing in the evidence available to the commission to show how Fr Boland became aware of this young boy," the report said. But the Herald understands that the Boland-Ioannes connection, which occurred in 1973, is now being investigated for evidence of organised abuse. A third possible instance of the existence of a paedophile ring concerns Fr Horatio, who abused a girl in 1989. One of the abusive incidents took place in a Co Wexford holiday home, which was also used by notorious child-sex abuser Fr Sean Fortune. Fr Horatio has retired from ministry, but is still a priest. The NBCI investigation is expected to take a number of months.
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