NORTHERN IRELAND
Belfast Telegraph
Fr John McCullagh sex abuse cover-up should be investigated by Pope Francis’ tribunal, says Amnesty
BY DONNA DEENEY – 17 JUNE 2015
A cover-up of the sexual abuse of an eight-year-old girl by pervert priest Fr John McCullagh exposed by the Belfast Telegraph is part of a call by Amnesty International for a government inquiry in Northern Ireland.
The human rights organisation reacted to the Vatican’s announcement that it would set up a tribunal to investigate bishops who failed to protect children by saying the Northern Ireland Executive must do likewise.
In 2010, this paper revealed how McCullagh, now deceased, had sexually abused a Londonderry girl for 10 years.
It was further revealed that the former Bishop of Derry, Seamus Hegarty, was party to an out-of-court settlement by McCullagh, which included forcing his victim to sign a document forbidding her to make public the abuse or the meagre payment she received in compensation.
Similar deals drafted by former Cardinal and Archbishop of Armagh Sean Brady in 1975, and signed by two victims of the notorious paedophile Fr Brendan Smyth, also need to be examined, according to Amnesty.
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