By John Cooney Shane Phelan and Tom Brady
Irish Independent
March 9, 2010
http://www.independent.ie/national-news/paedophile-priest-denies-findings-of-abuse-report-2092389.html
IRELAND -- A NOTORIOUS paedophile priest named in the Murphy report on clerical sex abuse has spoken out to dispute its findings.
Bill Carney (60) made the comments after being tracked down by the BBC's 'Panorama' TV programme while he was taking a sun holiday in the Canary Islands.
Carney, who was named as one of the worst serial offenders in the Murphy report, pleaded guilty to two counts of indecent assaulting altar boys in 1983.
He was kicked out by the Catholic Church in 1992 after being found guilty under canon law of child sex abuse.
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| Bill Carney pictured in the Canary Islands last month. |
Carney later moved to the UK and settled in St Andrews in Scotland, where he got married.
The Murphy report stated that there were complaints or suspicions against him in respect of 32 named individuals.
In a 'Panorama' programme, being broadcast this evening, Carney disputes these findings.
"I have read the Murphy report six or seven times," he told reporter Olenka Frenkiel.
"And I would dispute all of it except that I pleaded guilty to two charges in 1983 and the matter was dealt with by the court and I was sentenced.
"It is now 26 years later and I continue to get my life back together one day at a time and that is all I have to say."
In the programme he is confronted with the fact that Paul Dwyer, one of his alleged victims, committed suicide in 2004, not long after making a complaint to gardai.
"I've no comment to make," he said in response to those allegations.
He also denies being responsible for any instance of abuse since his conviction.
"I haven't done that in 26 years and I have had no inclination."
Pyschopathic
He refused to confirm or deny whether he abused other children before the 1983 case.
The Murphy report quoted a psychiatric assessment diagnosing Carney as suffering from a "psychopathic personality disorder", which it warned must still pose some risk to children. Complaints against Carney were diverted away from gardai to the late Bishop James Kavanagh, who, it is claimed, had a "soft spot" for him.
In 1992, Cardinal Desmond Connell, then Archbishop of Dublin, removed Carney from the priesthood after a canonical secret trial, and later paid him £30,000 to leave his Dublin parish house.
Carney, was married in 2004 after moving to Britain, where he first lived in Cheltenham, England.
For the past 10 years he has lived in St Andrews, where he runs a family-friendly guest house, and enjoys the local golf club facilities.
Despite the findings of the Murphy report, the Irish Independent has established he is not currently being sought by gardai and there is no warrant for his arrest.
A number of alleged victims were interviewed by gardai and files were sent to the DPP but no prosecutions were brought.
In the case of Mr Dwyer's complaint, the DPP did not proceed with a case due to insufficient evidence.
His mother Bridie later attempted to get access to the garda file on the case, but was refused on the grounds of confidentiality.
In Britain, the Home Office said Carney was not on the Sex Offenders Register because his admission of guilt in Ireland pre-dated the enacting of the UK register.
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