Dr Desmond Moran greatly regrets that, because the case was settled, he did not have the opportunity to contradict the allegations made against him during the McColgan hearing.

He sought to do this in a brief impromptu press conference last Friday week when the case was settled, and in a subsequent newspaper interview. He also spoke on Marian Finucane's Liveline programme, and later to Northwest Radio. He issued a lengthy press statement which was published almost in full by the Sligo Champion this week.

He is not seeking publicity, he stressed to The Irish Times, and is not used to it. "But I had to put my case and show I was not uncaring," he said.

He was emphatic in his denials of certain statements which were made in evidence. "Joe McColgan was never, never, never a friend of mine," he said.

Asked if he had known him in school in Sligo, he said he had gone to Clongowes Wood, while Joe McColgan had gone to Summerhill College in Sligo. He was not sure whether they had been in the same national school but McColgan was two or three years older, so they would not have been in the same class.

"Statements were inferred to me that I did not make; other statements made by me were taken out of context," he said in his press statement. "I did not ever state, imply or suggest to anyone that Gerard McColgan undertake ECT treatment or be sent to borstal. These remarks were made by Gerard McColgan's father and not by me."

He was emphatic that his legal team had not been involved in the settlement and that his side had not contributed to the damages. He agreed that his insurers had paid his costs but stressed that they had not paid any of the costs of the McColgan family.

Dr Moran was asked by The Irish Times to explain a report in health board records that at a case conference in 1983, the year Gerard McColgan ran away from home, he had described the boy as "manipulative" and advised "discipline" rather than "the soft option of care elsewhere".

"The mother told me he was manipulative," he said. "He was in care at the time. I wanted him out of the house. There was a total breakdown in the father-son relationship." When he spoke of "discipline" he meant a more disciplined environment in the home.

Much of the evidence relating to Dr Moran concerned the time when Gerard revealed, while in care after running away, that he and his sister, Sophia, were being sexually abused by their father. That revelation was made on July 28th, 1983. When informed of it at the time, Dr Moran said he wished to see Gerard.

According to a health board report, Dr Moran was "very aggressive toward the boy" at this interview. "Afterwards, he talked to me about the case," wrote the social worker involved, "and said that he was very afraid that Gerard would destroy his father as he had the power to do so.

"He said that he thought Gerard was in the early stages of a schizophrenic-type breakdown. He said that Gerard had almost destroyed his father in the past once before but he had got it stopped."

The report is signed by the social worker who brought Gerard to see Dr Moran.

Dr Moran does not recall the details of this interview but said in relation to Gerard's mental condition: "I would have discussed a differential diagnosis with another professional." He told The Irish Times that the words that Gerard was out to destroy his father were his mother's words, which he repeated.

According to a social worker's notes of a consultation between him and Gerard a week later, he repeated his suggestion that the boy might be mentally ill.

"Gerard wasn't a child who related easily," he explained. "He was taken out of his home and out of contact with his father and mother. The stress of living away from home might have made him depressed."

Asked if he felt mental delusion might have explained the boy's allegation of sexual abuse, he said a doctor had to have a mind open to every possibility.

"He didn't relate very well to me. There wasn't anything I could see physically wrong with him. I was never given details. Gerard would never speak to me."

However, he did take the allegation extremely seriously, he said, and asked the parents to swear on a Bible it was not true. "It was so serious I closed the surgery. I had a busy surgery that afternoon. I took them upstairs here [in the house] and they swore on the Bible."

Was this an appropriate way of dealing with the allegation? "What could I do? Then I was informed Gerard had withdrawn the allegation. Where does that leave you? In those days there were no guidelines, no vocabulary, no training."

He said he had asked to examine Sophia and the other children, and could see no evidence of sexual abuse of either her on Gerard. In court, Sophia said she was not aware of any such examination.

Asked how this could be, he agreed with a suggestion that he had carried out the examination in a discreet manner in order not to upset her.

DR Moran was emphatic that he was never a "key worker" in the case, as had been stated in evidence. "Doctors are not appointed key workers. That's a social worker's phrase." But did he not play a central role in the case? "I did take on to talk to him [Joe McColgan], which I did.

"I wanted to keep a bloody close eye, especially with the mother coming in. [Mrs McColgan was pregnant at the time.] I felt she would tell me. She was most emphatic that there was nothing going on."

Did he feel his influence would modify Joe McColgan's behaviour?

"I had hoped it would."

As well as the sexual abuse, the children suffered severe physical abuse, and the elder two were hospitalised with injuries three times between 1979 and 1981. Dr Moran said they were sent to hospital by other doctors on these occasions, and that the family was sometimes brought to other doctors, especially by other relatives.

He said on Liveline that he had seen the family about 150 times. This was spread over about 13 years, from its return from England in 1975 until 1988, and included two pregnancies and births. The only injury he had ever seen was a minor sprain of Gerard's thumb, which did not require treatment.

"I did not see enough physically on him to keep him coming back. She [the social worker] was the one to keep an eye on the children. They're the ones with the statutory rights." But they did not have the right to go into people's houses without permission at that time. "They could get it."

Asked why, when the abuse emerged in 1993, he had said that he wanted to keep the family together, he said: "I thought Joe McColgan would go back to England. I wanted to keep them in an area where they were known. I did try and do my best for that family. I had no other family where I went to two case conferences. I shut down my practice to attend them."

In hindsight, was there anything now he would have done differently? Dr Moran paused for several minutes before answering: "I wouldn't go to case conferences."