IRELAND
Irish Independent
By Edel O’Connell
Thursday May 03 2012
BARNARDOS chief Fergus Finlay has broken his silence about sexual abuse he experienced as a child in a bid to call for greater accountability from the Catholic Church.
The chief executive of the children’s charity said the excuse that sexual abuse at the hands of Catholic priests was not dealt with properly in the past because it was “the culture of the time” is a “complete myth”.
Mr Finlay (62) broke his silence about his own sexual abuse, which he said happened in 1961 when he was 11 years old and involved an “elderly man” whom he describes as “very religious”.
He explained how he told his father about the abuse and his father “dealt with the issue” and ensured the man did not go on to abuse again.
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