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	The Chilling Truth of a Paedophile at Large Sunday Independent December 6, 2009 http://www.independent.ie/opinion/analysis/the-chilling-truth-of-a-paedophile-at-large-1965717.html IRELAND--ON THE walls of the Royal Dublin Golf Club hangs a plaque commemorating the golfers of the year. The name WP Carney holds the record for 1994. The exclusive club on Bull Island is not the place one would expect one of the most notorious paedophile priests in the Dublin archdiocese to be commemorated. But Fr Bill Carney was a serial abuser of children, boys and girls, and the subject of 32 complaints to the archdiocese. Six of his victims were paid compensation by the Church authorities. He was also, by all accounts, an excellent golfer. The progress of the paedophile priest is documented in chilling detail in Judge Yvonne Murphy's Commission of Investigation into the Dublin Archdiocese, which concludes there is evidence that he abused many more. Even before he was ordained in 1974, he toured the children's homes of the capital in the company of another priest, Fr Frank McCarthy. They ingratiated themselves with religious orders which ran the homes, offering homework help and holidays to the attention-starved children; some later complained of abuse. There was evidence to suspect he was part of a paedophile ring. In 1983, Carney pleaded guilty to two counts of indecent assault, despite efforts by his bishop James Kavanagh to influence the investigation. By the time he won the series of competitions that earned him golfer of the year in the Royal Dublin club, he had been turfed out of the priesthood and dismissed from the clerical state with a pay-off of £30,000, which the "crude and loutish" priest had negotiated from the archdiocese. Carney managed to keep his shameful past a secret from his golfing buddies. Fellow members described Carney as a real "hard chaw" with a strong Dublin accent who prefaced almost everything he said with the f-word. He swore frequently and his stock greeting was "how's it going?". He was frowned on for parking his taxi emblazoned with stickers such as "Make My Day" in front of the club house. He probably would never have gotten into the exclusive Royal Dublin if he wasn't in the priesthood; most applicants needed to be sponsored by four members but rules were relaxed for priests, who were given a concessionary membership. More disturbing than his foul language was the fact that Carney regularly had young boys in tow. One golfer recalls boys aged between 10 and 12 hanging around the locker room, while the priest got ready for his game. Their job was to caddy for him. "It wasn't uncommon for him to be driving around the car park with these young fellows sitting on his knee," said one former member. Carney's past caught up with him. Not long after he won the accolade of golfer of the year, newspaper reports began to appear about his dubious past. The Royal Dublin got wind of it and Carney was invited before a committee to explain himself. He pleaded innocence but he was still expelled. Carney left his taxi business and the flat he rented on North Frederick Street in the north inner city and moved to Gloucestershire in the UK. One person who knew Carney at the time said he worked in a pub in the city of Gloucester and later trained as a chef. He began a relationship with a woman and got married and they are thought to have moved to Scotland around eight years ago. The Murphy report said Carney was known to be living in Scotland but his exact whereabouts were unknown. Last week, the Sunday Independent traced him to a neat property, decorated in pastel shades and floral soft furnishings, conveniently located just 200 yards from a famous golf course. Unlike his former bombastic self, Carney kept his head down in Scotland. A neighbour said: "He's a really strange fish. I think he came to the town about eight years ago, from Ireland, where I believe he was a priest," said a neighbouring guesthouse proprietor. "He keeps himself to himself and tends not to get out of a fairly small circle." When shown a picture of Carney, another neighbour replied: "Yes, that's definitely him. He's certainly recognisable. He's a really weird guy, and a bit creepy." There are so many disturbing aspects of Judge Murphy's report but one of the most chilling is the thought that Carney and others who perpetrated such terrible crimes against children are still at large. According to the report, it's not unusual for paedophiles to make themselves disappear and several priests mentioned in the report are believed to be living freely in unsuspecting communities. Among them is Fr John Kinsella, who was released from prison in 2001 after serving a sentence for sexually assaulting two boys. No one seems to know where he is even though there are a number of complaints against him. Another priest, Fr Donato, who sexually abused a young schoolgirl, left the priesthood. He is now married to a woman he had a relationship with while he was still a priest and with whom he has a child. That's only among the 46 priests who were investigated by the commission. The Dublin archdiocese was aware of another 126 cases of priests who were suspected or admitted to child abuse; some are dead, some are living in restricted ministries, some are in jail and the whereabouts of others are unknown.
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