Archbishop Diarmuid Martin Calls for Establishment of Independent Fr Brendan Smyth Inquiry

RTE News
May 7, 2012

http://www.rte.ie/news/2012/0506/archbishop-martin-calls-for-smyth-inquiry.html

Dr Martin said such an inquiry was owed to victims

Father Brendan Smyth

[with video]

The Catholic Archbishop of Dublin, Dr Diarmuid Martin, has called for an independent international commission of inquiry into the crimes of Fr Brendan Smyth, the late paedophile priest.

Dr Martin said such an inquiry was owed to victims and that it would be in the public interest that the full story, and not bits and pieces, should come out.

Meanwhile, Bishop of Ardagh and Clonmacnoise Colm O'Reilly has described as "bizarre" the interview methods used by Cardinal Seán Brady during a Church inquiry into clerical child sexual abuse in the 1970s.

However, he said he felt Cardinal Brady should not stand aside as Catholic Primate of Ireland as he believed the then Fr Brady acted conscientiously.

Speaking on RTÉ's This Week, Bishop O'Reilly also said he did not know why there is a difficulty with Cardinal Brady making a public apology to Brendan Boland, who was abused by Fr Smyth.

In a statement, the Catholic Communications Office said Cardinal Brady had offered to write to and to meet Mr Boland, in person, to make an apology and while the offer was not accepted, it still stands.