Priest's victim 'sworn to secrecy'
Bishop of Derry Seamus Hegarty has been accused of mishandling claims against a Catholic priest
Thursday March 18 2010
The Catholic Church in Ireland is embroiled in fresh controversy, with senior clerics forced to defend their handling of two further abuse cases.
The revelations that two accused priests had their identity protected by confidentiality agreements came as primate Cardinal Sean Brady continued to face calls to resign over his role in secrecy oaths taken by two victims of a notorious paedophile churchman almost 35 years ago.
The latest cases to emerge saw Dr Brady and Bishop of Derry Seamus Hegarty involved in legal proceedings taken by two young women against members of their clergy.
Both ended with out-of-court settlements.
The accused priests paid £45,000 and £12,000 in damages respectively, without accepting liability, and the settlements included stipulations that the details of the cases were not made public.
Cardinal Brady and Bishop Hegarty tonight confirmed their involvement but both men stressed that the Church had not called for the confidential deals which were struck.
A spokesman for Cardinal Brady said that in the case he was involved with - which centred on a woman who claimed she was abused as a 17-year-old in the late 1990s - he had made clear that he would "not be a party" to any such agreement.
Bishop Hegarty defended his handling of the case he was party to, which saw one of his clerics accused of abusing a girl over a 10-year period starting in 1979 when she was only eight.
He said: "A confidentiality agreement was not proposed by the diocese, but was proposed to the diocese by one of the other parties, and, to facilitate a settlement, the diocese agreed."
The senior clergymen said that, in both cases, the authorities had been alerted to abuse allegations.
