(IRELAND)
ITV News [London, UK]
August 29, 2025
By Sharon O'Neill
A victim of the now dead disgraced Christian Brother Paul Dunleavy has said an apology by the religious order for the pain and hurt he has caused is ‘’too little too late’’
Eddie Hutchinson spoke for the first time exclusively to UTV about the abuse he suffered at the hands of the former teacher and principal after his death while serving time for a litany of sex crimes.
The 89-year-old died in hospital on Tuesday 26 August.
“That man was still abusing me. Up until that man died, that man was still abusing me.”
He was abusing me in my sleep. That man was abusing me. Every single day that I opened my eyes, that man was abusing me.“
That man was abusing me when I went out. I felt dirty, I felt unwanted, I just felt unloved, ” Eddie said.
In 2024, Dunleavy was handed a 10-year-old sentence on top of one he was already serving for abusing boys at schools he once taught in Belfast, Newry and Armagh.
His crimes spanned almost three decades.
Before his death, he was convicted of 72 offences against 18 victims across three trials.
Eddie was just nine years old when he was singled out by teacher Dunleavy who went on to become a principal.“
This was every day, Monday to Friday, unless I was off sick or something. It was even before school, during school this was done in classrooms and that door wasn’t even locked.“
There’s just no words, he’s just filthy,” he told UTV.
Dunleavy’s death came just weeks before an appeal was to be heard in a bid to get his sentenced reduced.
Because of that process UTV was unable to report a response from the Christian Brothers when when we put a number of questions to them, including what was known about his offending.
In a statement the Congregation said: “We abhor the abuse perpetrated by Br Dunleavy and would encourage anyone with allegations to contact the police. We apologise unreservedly for the pain and hurt experienced by the actions of Br Dunleavy.”
Since the early 90s all allegations of sexual abuse against a Brother or former Christian Brother are immediately notified to the appropriate safeguarding authorities.”
History has taught us that relocating or expelling from the Congregation a Brother who has abused, opens a greater risk to society.
“Instead, we require that any such Brother remains under the supervision of the Congregation as well as the State authorities and that they sign and commit to a re-offending prevention plan that is in accordance with the guidelines of the National Board for Safeguarding Children in the Catholic Church.”
The aim of this process is to minimise the risk of reoffending through active supervision and by preventing the offending Brother from engaging in any public ministry or having any contact with minors or vulnerable adults.”
That policy applies regardless of whether or not an offending Brother is incarcerated as otherwise the Congregation has no scope to supervise or constrain that Brother’s activities in the event of their release.
“Its too little too late. I absolutely do not [accept the apology]”, Eddie told UTV.
At the beginning of the year it emerged Dunleavy was still under investigation by police with almost 30 new cases under their radar.
Now the PSNI have revealed that there are 91 incidents linked to the paedophile with victims denied justice by his death.