Three of the people who were sexually abused as children by paedophile priest Father Eugene Greene in County Donegal have received out-of-court settlements from the Catholic diocese of Raphoe.
The diocese is now bracing itself for other possible claims as Greene has convictions for abusing a total of 26 children over three decades.
The Bishop of Raphoe, Dr Philip Boyce, confirmed payment of the undisclosed amounts to the three victims in a brief statement yesterday.
"I wish to confirm that out of court settlements have been arrived at with three of the people who were sexually abused as children by Father Eugene Greene," said Bishop Boyce.
" I wish to respect the rights of the victims to their privacy and I pray and ask the prayers of all that the wounds of those who have been affected may be healed by the God who loves us all," his statement read.
It ended: "I wish to repeat my willingness to help in any way I can."
Greene (72) was jailed for 12 years in April 2000 when he pleaded guilty to 40 sample offences of sexual assault committed against children in a number of parishes in County Donegal between 1965 and 1982.
He had been charged on over 100 counts.
During his trial the court heard that many of his victims were altar boys who suffered repeated assault and buggery by the priest despite complaints to the church authorities.
Sentencing him, Judge Matthew Deery noted that some of his victims had turned to drink to try to erase the pain of their childhood abuse which he described as "horrific".
Last year Greene went to the Court of Criminal Appeal to try to have his sentence reduced on the grounds of his advanced age and a drink problem but his appeal was dismissed.
Bishop Boyce's statement follows the weekend statement by the Catholic diocese of Limerick confirming that a priest who was loaned £40,000 in 1995 to pay a youth who claimed he had been sexually abused by him, had since left the ministry and was working abroad.
In the 1990s, the Dublin diocese confirmed it had loaned Father Ivan Payne almost £30,000 to compensate a young man he abused as a child in the 1980s.
Meanwhile, the Catholic bishops have yet to finalise arrangements for their first follow-up meeting since announcing plans last week for a series of diocesan audits to examine files for sex abuse complaints against priests and review the church's handling of such complaints.
In that announcement, the bishops said they would be announcing the terms of reference for the audit and announcing the name of the auditor or auditors at their next meeting.
A meeting is provisionally scheduled for early next week.However, a spokeswoman for the Catholic Communications Office said final details would not be available until today at the earliest.