The former president of St Patrick's College Maynooth, Monsigor Micheal Ledwith, has described as "horrendous" and "false", allegations that he behaved inappropriately with seminarians while at the college.
Mgr Ledwith left Maynooth in 1994. In a statement last year the bishops said he had made two settlements following allegations of inappropriate behaviour. He is now a lecturer at the Ramptha School of Enlightenment in Yel, Washington State, in the US.
Questioned there by reporter Adrian Lydon for an RTÉ's Prime Time broadcast last night, he said he saw "a rather scurrulous report in the newspaper which has no foundation and obviously there'll have to be some looking into that done but I think at this point there's really little more I can say".
The Irish Times disclosed last summer that senior seminarians at the College had in the 1983/4 period unsuccessfully attempted to alert the bishops to Mgr Ledwith's behaviour.
They then went to the college senior dean, Father Gerard McGinnity, who was also unsuccessful in having the concerns addressed. He was later invited to take a sabbatical for a year, after which he was told by his bishop and then Catholic primate, Cardinal Tómas Ó Fiaich, that the bishops were seeking his resignation. He was not allowed return to Maynooth but was posted to a small rural parish in the Armagh diocese before later becoming dean of St Patrick's Diocesan College in Armagh.
Mgr Ledwith said he had not been contacted by the Irish authorities but that he had legal representatives who were active and he was sure if any contact were needed they would make it.
He was not free to discuss his private settlement with a minor as "these are all matters that are probably sub judice right now".
Asked about seminarians' concerns about his conduct, he replied: "That's a very complex issue ... and I'm sure there's a lot more to be said about it than that." If he had ever hurt or offended anybody in the past he very sincerely regretted it without reservation.
"That's not including just this case or any other case, it's a general policy that I have but I am not at liberty to discuss any specifics. I mean horrendous accusations have been made against me that are false and of course we'll have to deal with that ..."
He was dealing with the accusations "in the appropriate fashion under legal advice. You know there are inquiries going on and so forth and we must wait obviously until they have assessed all the evidence before them and make a judgment," he said.