The umbrella body for Irish language summer colleges has requested a Donegal school at the centre of an abuse scandal withdraw from the organisation.
Comhchoiste na gColáistí Samhraidh (Concos) said today it had asked Coláiste Cholmcille to voluntary leave the federation in the wake of revelations that it continued to employ a man convicted of sexually assaulting a child.
Michael Ferry (55) continued to work at Coláiste Cholmcille despite the local health board and then-owner of the school being informed of his offence.
He went on to rape and sexually assault four other boys who attended the school for which he was given an 18-year prison sentence at the Central Criminal Court on Monday.
In a statement today, directors of Coláiste Cholmcille expressed their “deepest regret” to Ferry’s victims for “the pain, suffering and distress experienced by them by his criminal actions”.
However, the college, which uses a vacant former secondary school building at Ard Scoil Mhuire for its summer courses, disputed a number of the comments made by the trial judge and in subsequent media reports surrounding the case.
It described as “factually incorrect” repeated assertions that Micheal Ferry continued in his role as caretaker to the school following his conviction for sexual assault in 2002.
“Following his arrest in 2001 and prior to his subsequent conviction he was dismissed from his post as caretaker. This dismissal took place at a formal meeting, attended by two directors of Coláiste Cholmcille.”
The statement said Ferry was required to surrender the keys to the building at the meeting, which he did.
The school said Ferry was never subsequently re-employed as caretaker to the building. “Teaching staff at the college were informed of his dismissal and the reasons for same,” the school said.
“Over subsequent years, on occasion, whilst the building was vacant and not in use, Micheal Ferry, on an intermittent basis and always in the company of other building workers, participated in effecting necessary repairs,” it said.
The school insisted Ferry never unaccompanied during his subsequent employment.
However, the directors said with the benefit of hindsight, in the light of the information now available “we regret having allowed this”.
In its statement, the school said intermittent security checks of the building during its long periods of unoccupancy did not reveal evidence of unauthorised use.
“However, information emerging from the recent court case states that Micheal Ferry continued to access the building subsequent to his dismissal as caretaker in 2001.”
“As already stated this was an unused and unoccupied building for approximately nine months of every year. Apart from the above mentioned periods of authorised accompanied access, any other access of the building by Micheal Ferry was totally unauthorised.”
A preliminary Garda report into the matter said the force’s records showed the then northwestern health board was informed by gardaí, in accordance with the Children First guidelines, of Ferry’s conviction and of where he was believed to be working.
The Garda report also said that it was their “clear recollection” that the person who then owned the school was in court when proceedings were brought against Ferry. It said a member of the force subsequently told the owner of the school about the conviction and expressed concerns about Ferry continuing to work there.
Earlier Minister for Justice Alan Shatter said he was “appalled” by the case and that it was “unacceptable” that Ferry continued to work at the school having been convicted in 2002.
“I find it inexplicable that after his [former] conviction this individual continued to work in an environment where they were children, and where he had access to children,” he said.
“I think we need very clear explanations as to why that situation continued. We need to know what thought process applied in this context.”
Speaking on RTÉ's Morning Ireland , the Minister said the school had “clearly” not complied with the voluntary childcare guidelines.
“Of course, the difficulty with the guidelines was that they were a voluntary set of guidelines which the State then hoped people complied with,” he said.
The guidelines specified that individuals who posed a risk to children should not be engaged in work related to children.
Mr Shatter admitted that because the guidelines were voluntary there was no legal impediment to hiring convicted sex offenders.
A Garda spokesman said Ard Scoil Mhuire was now under different ownership. The school is expected to issue a formal statement later this week.