IRELAND
Irish Times
Patsy McGarry
The review by the church’s National Board for Safeguarding Children did not name the Salvatorian priest who abused in excess of 100 children up to 2004.
However, the priest in question was the late Fr Paddy McDonagh, also known as Fr Aloysius. He was aged 78 in December 2007 when he was jailed for sexually abusing several girls over a 25-year period. He was given a four-year sentence at the Dublin Circuit Criminal Court by Judge Patrick McCartan, all but 18 months of which was suspended.
In December 2002 he was withdrawn by his then Provincial from Sallynoggin parish in Dublin where he had been serving, after he had been accused by a female relative of abusing her when she was a child.
Abuse allegations
But, in informing the then Archbishop of Dublin Cardinal Desmond Connell of this, the Provincial said Fr McDonagh found “that with advancing years [73 years] he is no longer able to do many things that would need to be done and doing relatively minor things has become more stressful. In the New Year Father McDonagh will join our Generalate Staff in Rome where he will assume less onerous duties.” There was no reference to child abuse allegations.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.