The Bishop of Killaloe, Dr Willie Walsh, said yesterday that he believed all the bishops would co-operate fully with the Hussey Commission, "whether people believe us or not."
The commission, chaired by retired District Court judge Gillian Hussey, was set up earlier this year by the bishops to conduct an audit into the handling of clerical child sex abuse complaints in all dioceses.
Dr Walsh told The Irish Times that he believed the Hussey Commission was "an honest and genuine attempt" to deal with the issue of clerical child sex abuse and he would like to see it go through with its work.
He did not honestly think there would be a conflict between the commission and any bishop over the confidentiality issue and, for his part, he was happy to leave judgment on confidentiality to Judge Hussey.
Speaking about the 1992 tribunal into allegations against Father Tony Walsh, he said if it were held today, he would make sure the Garda authorities in Dublin were informed about the child sex abuse complaints against Father Walsh.
Along with then Father John McAreavey [now Bishop of Dromore], he and Father Paddy Corcoran had heard evidence against Father Walsh over "an eight-nine-10 month" period in 1992, at the end of which they decided "the gravest canonical penalty", expulsion from the priesthood, was deserved.
However, some of the evidence against Father Walsh, as revealed on last Thursday's Prime Time programme, had not been presented to them. This included the rape of "David" on his ninth birthday in the Phoenix Park, which Bishop Walsh became aware of for the first time when he saw the programme. The offences they had heard evidence of were not as grave as that, he said, but were sufficiently severe to necessitate his removal from the priesthood, he felt.
But he had understood then that all matters pertaining to the case, apart from the tribunal hearings themselves, were being handled by the diocesan authorities, including that of informing the gardaí and priests about Father Walsh's activities.
He expressed some surprise at the delay in the appeal process to |Rome undertaken by Father Walsh, which took up to three years. All that was involved, as far as he understood it, was a review of the evidence presented to the tribunal in the first instance, though it had the right to interview witnesses again, which had not happened in this case as far as he understood.
He and the other two priests had been invited in a professional capacity by the archdiocese to sit on the tribunal and to make recommendations. When that was done, he had felt they had completed their work. Bishop McAreavey was not contactable yesterday, nor was Father Corcoran.
Meanwhile, a spokesman for the Bishop of Kildare and Leighlin, Dr Jim Moriarty, said he had brought complaints about another offender, Father Paul McGennis, to the attention of relevant archdiocesan authorities when they were brought to his attention. Prime Time disclosed that a local woman in Edenmore, where Father McGennnis was serving, had reported him in 1994 to Bishop Moriarty, then an auxiliary bishop in Dublin, for inappropriate conduct with children. The spokesman said Bishop Moriarty had spoken to Father McGennis at the time and he was satisfied the priest had modified his behaviour after their conversation.
Bishop Donal Murray of Limerick, who was named as having passed on information about Father Thomas Noughton, is abroad.
Bishop Dermot O'Mahony, who was criticised by the programme in connection with the Father Ivan Payne case, is ill.
