IRELAND
Irish Independent
Lesley-Anne McKeown, Press Association
PUBLISHED
25/06/2015
VICTIMS of paedophile priest Father Brendan Smyth are to take legal action against the Gardai.
The move follows revelations that officers in Dublin knew about his sex abuse in the early 1970s.
Solicitor Kevin Winters said civil proceedings had been launched because of the “appalling failure” to stop Smyth.
He said: “A number of victims of Smyth’s abuse have asked us to write to the Garda commissioner to find out why they didn’t act on a letter sent to Finglas Garda station in 1973.
“Our clients are shocked to learn that the document didn’t alert the Gardai and the authorities to the very real risk of future abuse by Smyth.”
Yesterday, previously unseen confidential documents from St Patrick’s Hospital in Dublin were shown to the Historical Abuse Inquiry (HIA).
They revealed Smyth had asked his psychiatrist to have him admitted to hospital after coming to the attention of Gardai in Finglas in 1973.
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