An alleged paedophile priest held a "stormy meeting" with a senior officer of the South Eastern Health Board after it validated a complaint against him, a report released yesterday reveals.
In the report, the board denied an allegation that an "old boys' network" led to it "turning a blind eye" to the abuse of 10 young girls by the late Father Jim Grennan in Monageer, Co Wexford, in 1988.
The report was sent by the board to the Department of Health in 1996 after allegations about its handling of the Monageer case were made by its then chairman, Mr Gary O'Halloran. It was made public for the first time yesterday.
The girls claimed they were abused by Father Grennan during a class to prepare for their confirmation. Parents of seven of the girls consented to their attending a health board validation unit, where it was concluded that the complaints were not malicious and they had been abused.
In correspondence with the Department in 1996, Mr O'Halloran, who is no longer a member of the board, claimed that "all official recognition of the very existence of this case" had disappeared from June 1988 until November 1995, when there was renewed publicity about the incident and other sex abuse cases in the diocese of Ferns.
The constitutional rights of children, he said, had been denied by "a conspiracy of silence". The board's report responding to the claims was written by a then programme manager, Mr Martin Hynes, who is now executive of the Irish Blood Transfusion Service.
Mr Hynes wrote that a review of the case showed that a health board social worker had called to Monageer National School on April 27th, 1988, the day after the school principal contacted the board about the allegations.
After the girls' complaints were validated in early May that year, the board sought to contact the then Bishop of Ferns, Dr Brendan Comiskey. He was away at the time so the Vicar General of the diocese was informed of the allegations. The Garda was also informed.
Senior officers of the board also spoke to the girls' teacher and advised that Father Grennan not to be allowed unaccompanied access to the children, and a social worker paid a number of subsequent visits to the school.
Following a meeting between board representatives and the Vicar General, Father Grennan sought a meeting with the staff concerned. "They had what could be described as a stormy meeting in the Director of Community Care's office, during which the DCC confronted [Father Grennan\] regarding the abuse." Father Grennan's name is excised from the report released yesterday and he is referred to as "the alleged abuser". Other sections of the original report were also withheld on legal advice and for reasons of confidentiality.
Mr Hynes's report said a number of questions arose from Mr O'Halloran's allegations, including those concerning other people's constitutional rights. These included Father Grennan who was now deceased and "not here to defend himself".
"It is the predominant wish of the victims that the constant publicity now being given to the case would cease and that they could get on with their lives," he wrote.
The board said yesterday it would not be commenting on the report. It was co-operating fully with the preliminary inquiry by Mr George Birmingham SC into the Monageer case and others.
