Two reports on events leading to the departure of Dr Miceál Ledwith from St Patrick's College, Maynooth, in 1994 are due to be published in March, following three separate investigations. Patsy McGarry reports.
Two of the investigations have been conducted on behalf of the State. First was the Birmingham inquiry set up by the Minister for Health, Mr Martin, in April 2002, under Mr George Birmingham SC. It followed the resignation of Bishop Brendan Comiskey and was to determine the best form of State investigation into how allegations of clerical child sex abuse were handled in Ferns diocese.
It led to the Ferns inquiry, which began hearings last September under the chairmanship of Mr Justice Murphy. Both inquiries have investigated the circumstances surrounding the departure from Maynooth of Dr Ledwith, a priest of Ferns diocese. It is expected that two-thirds of the Ferns inquiry's work will be completed in March, when an interim report is to be published.
The third inquiry was set up by the 17 bishop-trustees of St Patrick's College, in June 2002. Conducted by Mr Denis McCullough SC, its report is expected to be presented to the Irish Episcopal Conference in March. It is thought likely that it will then be published.
Central to the McCullough inquiry were claims that in a period from 1983 to 1984 six senior seminarians approached nine bishop-trustees at the college with complaints about alleged sexual impropriety involving Dr Ledwith, the college vice-president at the time, and junior seminarians there.
Concerned at their claims being dismissed, the seminarians sought help from the senior dean at the college, Father Gerard McGinnity.
He made representations to the bishops and later was persuaded to take a sabbatical. Before his sabbatical year ended, he was told he would not be returning to Maynooth and was appointed curate in Armagh diocese. That same year, 1985, Dr Ledwith was appointed president at Maynooth.
In June 1994 Dr Ledwith left Maynooth prematurely, having paid money to and concluded a confidential agreement with a seminarian who claimed he had been sexually abused by him as a minor.
Another allegation against Dr Ledwith, which he has denied, was made in 2000.
Father McGinnity, and a majority of the former seminarians involved, did not co-operate with Mr McCullough's inquiry. They assisted the Birmingham investigation and Ferns inquiry.
When the McCullough inquiry was set up, Father McGinnity said: "An inquiry which is not independent but conducted under the auspices of that body undergoing inquiry is wrong in principle, it seems to me."