NORTHERN IRELAND
Irish Times
Failings that allowed notorious paedophile priest Brendan Smyth to abuse children for four decades will be examined by a public inquiry on Monday.
Northern Ireland’s long-running Historical Abuse Inquiry (HIA) is holding a focused module into how Smyth got away with his crimes for so long.
The serial child molester frequented Catholic residential homes and was convicted of more than 100 child abuse charges.
Retired judge Sir Anthony Hart is leading the HIA inquiry, one of the UK’s largest inquiries into physical, sexual and emotional harm to children at homes run by the church, state and voluntary organisations.
Smyth, who was at the centre of one of the first clerical child sex abuse scandals to rock the Catholic Church in Ireland, was eventually convicted of more than 100 child abuse charges on both sides of the Irish border over a 40-year period.
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