IRELAND
Irish Times
Mary Carolan
Thu, Nov 12, 2015
The Court of Appeal has halted three actions for damages brought against a Catholic Bishop in a representative capacity over the church’s alleged failure to act to prevent paedophile priest Fr Brendan Smyth sexually abusing children.
The three judge court on Thursday upheld a High Court decision stopping separate actions by a man, his sister and a cousin against the Bishop of Kilmore, Dr Leo O’Reilly, as representative of the Kilmore diocese.
The plaintiffs had also sued Cardinal Seán Brady in his personal capacity arising from his role as part-time secretary to former Bishop of Kilmore, Francis McKiernan, during a church investigation in 1975 into complaints about Smyth.
While Cardinal Brady had not made a similar application to Bishop O’Reilly, legal sources suggest the judgment means he too cannot be pursued by the plaintiffs.
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