Fortune abused children while a seminarian

Fr Seán FortuneFr Seán Fortune, who took his own life in March 1999 while facing 66 charges of child sex abuse and rape, had abused children while a seminarian in Co Wexford, according to the Ferns inquiry.

The report sets out more than 20 allegations of abuse of young people from his time as a seminarian and throughout his time working as a priest in Belfast, Dundalk and Wexford.

In two cases families claimed that young people had killed themselves because of Fr Fortune's abuse.

The first complaint about him was made by a student at St Peter's College, a seminary and a boys' secondary school in Wexford. The boy claimed he had been violently raped by the then seminarian in a shower.

The boy, identified as Stephen (real names of victims were not used in the report), told the inquiry that the then principal of the college had reacted angrily to the complaint and did not believe him.

The inquiry says that an allegation of sexual abuse against boy scouts by Fr Fortune was passed to the then bishop of Ferns, Dr Donal Herlihy, in 1979. But it was not clear if this was before or after Fr Fortune's ordination.

The inquiry says it is satisfied that Seán Fortune did engage in child sexual abuse during his years as a seminarian and that despite clear warning signs, this did not prevent his ordination.

It says if guidelines on the "norms for priestly training" published by the Irish Episcopal Commission in 1973 had been properly applied by St Peter's College, Seán Fortune would not have been ordained.

It says that if Bishop Herlihy had been told of the allegations made against Fr Fortune of the abuse of boy scouts and students, then it was "inexcusable" that he ordained and admitted him to a vocation that required and provided unsupervised access to young people.

The report tells of how on ordination Fr Fortune was sent to Belfast but was soon regarded as "unmanageable".

It says that the then bishop of Down and Connor Dr William Philbin had Fr Fortune removed from the diocese within hours of hearing allegations that the priest had sexually propositioned a student.

It was "improbable" that Dr Philbin would not have told Dr Herlihy the reasons for the departure.

The report says Dr Herlihy had received reports from a psychologist at UCD, indicating the dangers of giving Fr Fortune unsupervised access to young people. It criticises Dr Herlihy for still appointing Fr Fortune to the parish of Poulfour.

"That a curate with Dr Fortune's history could open youth clubs and build reconciliation rooms for young people in the basement of his house represented a serious lack of supervision and a failure to have regard of the dangers posed by a man with his history."

The report says that Dr Herlihy's successor as Bishop of Ferns, Dr Brendan Comiskey, became concerned in late 1985 about Fr Fortune's relationships with young men. However, it is critical of the fact that it took the bishop two years to remove Fr Fortune from the parish. It says the decision of Bishop Comiskey to later appoint Fr Fortune to another parish at Ballymurn was "ill-advised and dangerous".

"Bishop Comiskey failed to put in place any proper monitoring of supervision of Seán Fortune in Ballymurn."

It also maintains that it is difficult to comprehend the bishop's failure to remove Fr Fortune from Ballymurn, having received complaints about the sexual content of his classes at Bridgetown VEC.

"If the bishop was correct in believing that he could not remove a curate whose current conduct confirmed existing suspicions, children might be exposed indefinitely to grievous dangers."

The report says that Garda handling of Fr Fortune's case was professional and effective.

However, it expresses concern at the level of co-operation provided by Bishop Comiskey at the initial stage of the investigation.