The solicitor for six of Smyth's victims, Mr Ted Lavery, said yesterday their first reaction on hearing of his death would be "a sense of relief at the loss of the menace that this man was to them". "All the victims must be left wondering whether the Catholic Church will take a different view now that he is dead, or whether they will continue to evade responsibility," he said.
"Will it change anything of the Catholic Church's attitude? On their track record to date, it'll change nothing.
"Something else which will affect the victims is that this man died a priest. At no time, despite the sea of controversy surrounding him, did the Catholic Church or the Norbertine Order takes steps against his status as a priest. Why did he die a priest?"
Mr Lavery said he issued proceedings for the six against the Catholic Primate, Dr Brady, the Norbertine Order and Smyth.
He said he knew that in other cases where victims had sought compensation, lawyers for the church had argued that too much time had passed since the offences for the claims to be legally valid. In defence of his own proceedings, he said, the lawyers had argued that the church was not responsible or liable.
Mr Lavery said this was a "morally indefensible" position, particularly when one took into account the timespan of Smyth's offences and the fact that the church had sent him for treatment in Belfast in 1968 because they knew of his activities. Smyth was still offending in 1993.