The Journal
December 15, 2010
http://www.thejournal.ie/withheld-murphy-report-chapter-can-now-be-published-2010-12/
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THE HIGH COURT has ruled that a chapter from the Murphy Report that has been withheld from publication until this point can now be released, following the sentencing of former priest Tony Walsh on 17 counts of sexual abuse.
Because of Walsh’s impending trial, chapter 19 of the Murphy report was not permitted to be published before now.
Walsh still has the right to appeal his sentence, however such an appeal would come before the Court of Criminal Appeal and would not involve a jury. Justice Paul Gilligan said this would mean there would be no prejudice to witnesses by reference to the person named in chapter 19, RTE reports.
Another chapter of the Murphy Report, chapter 20, will continue to be withheld pending the outcome of criminal proceedings.
The Murphy Report investigated the handling of allegations of child sexual abuse by church and state, which involved 46 priests in the Dublin archdiocese between 1975 and 2004.
At the beginning of this month, Walsh was sentenced to 16 years imprisonment for 17 counts of sexual abuse, including five counts of raping one child. The final four years of the term were suspended.
What will chapter 19 reveal?
The Irish Times reports that the contents of the report are expected to contain details of a church tribunal in Dublin from 1992, which ruled that Walsh should be laicised as a consequence of the allegations of child sex abuse.
Three canon lawyers sat on the tribunal: Willie Walsh, John McAreavey, and Paddy Corcoran. At the time, Willie Walsh said that he was under the impression that the archdiocese had informed the gardai about the tribunal’s findings.
However it had not, and neither had McAreavey, Corcoran or Bishop Eamonn Walsh.
Meanwhile, Tony Walsh appealed the tribunal’s decision to Rome – a process which took three years.
During the time his appeal was being processed, Walsh sexually assaulted the 11-year-old grandson of a man whose funeral he was attending. Walsh had dressed in priest’s clothes for the funeral.
The child’s parents reported Walsh to the gardai and he subsequently served one year in prison.
In the meantime, Rome had reconsidered expelling Walsh from the priesthood: The Vatican decided that Walsh would spend 10 years in a monastery instead of being laicised.
Archbishop Desmond Connell flew to Rome after Walsh’s sentencing and insisted he be laicised, which he was.
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