IRELAND
Irish Examiner
By Caroline O’Doherty
A victim of serial paedophile Michael Ferry has said he may go to the European Court of Human Rights to get answers as to why the convicted sex offender was able to continue working at a school, where he abused more children.
The Child and Family Agency yesterday acknowledged serious failings in the handling of the Donegal school caretaker following his 2002 conviction for sex attacks on a young boy.
However, the agency said there were insufficient records from that time to explain why crucial meetings between gardaí and local HSE staff did not take place and no joint approach was taken to monitoring Ferry, even though he was on the sex offenders’ register.
John Smith, the agency’s director in the west, said: “Our response was not as robust as it should have been. In 2002, what should have occurred in line with Children First [guidelines for child protection] was there should have been a joint strategy meeting between the HSE and an Garda Síochána. Unfortunately, that did not occur.”
Ferry, 58, a former student priest, worked as a caretaker at Ardscoil Mhuire in Gweedore, which later became a centre for Irish language courses.
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