The former president at St Patrick's College, Maynooth, Mgr Micheál Ledwith, was a frontrunner to become Bishop of Ferns in 1984 when concerns about his behaviour emerged. He is a priest of Ferns diocese.
On June 1st last the Trustees of St Patrick's College acknowledged that, before his abrupt departure from there in 1995, an allegation of sexual abuse involving a minor had been made against the monsignor, which he denied strenuously.
They said the former president had made a settlement with the claimant, without admission of liability. They further disclosed that in 2000 they were informed of another allegation against the monsignor, made by a former student at the college between 1992 and 1994.
In a statement today Father Gerard McGinnity, former senior dean at the college, said he was consulted about Mgr Ledwith by the papal nuncio at the time, Dr Gaetano Alibrandi, as part of church procedure before names were recommended to Rome for appointment as bishop.
This Sub Pontificio Secreto (under pontifical secrecy) procedure involves filling written answers on a form sent by the nuncio to people who would know a prospective episcopal candidate well. In his replies Father McGinnity repeated concerns about Mgr Ledwith then being expressed by seminarians and others at the college.
He also says he discussed these concerns with Bishop Eamonn Casey at Maynooth, co-incident with a trustees' meeting in 1984, and that he brought them to the attention of three other bishops.
Bishop Casey confirmed to The Irish Times that the conversation with Father McGinnity took place, while disputing "the context". He refused to explain further, or to be drawn on the content of the conversation.
Father McGinnity was sent on a sabbatical year shortly afterwards. At the end of that year he was removed from Maynooth and appointed curate in the rural parish of Stonebridge, Co Armagh.
