FATHER Brendan Smyth, the priest who is currently serving a four year sentence in Magilligan Prison outside Derry for sexually abusing children, will be charged with 60 child sex abuse offences in the Republic when he is released from prison later this year.
His solicitor, Mr Denis Moloney, received a letter from the Director of Public Prosecutions yesterday saying he would face charges arising out of alleged incidents while he was serving as a priest in Dublin, Mayo and Cavan.
In June 1994 Smyth was sentenced to four years in prison when he pleaded guilty to 17 charges of child sex abuse in Northern Ireland, and last year he pleaded guilty to another 26 charges of abuse there over a 20 year period.
In April he was refused parole, but with remission he is due for release on December 23rd, according to his solicitor.
Mr Moloney has been pressing the DPP for a decision on the charges. He wants them proceeded with immediately, so that "there is no break in the continuity of this particular case. I will produce him at any place at any time".
He said he could not say at this stage how Smyth would plead, as he had not seen the papers. However, "in any issue where there is a bona fide complaint he will acknowledge his culpability".
Mr Moloney praised the work of gardai in the case, and in particular that of the officer in charge of the investigation, Det Supt Austin McNally. "He was the most professional garda I have ever met, and operated with the utmost sensitivity," he said.