Sean Brady Admits Fault In Not Informing Victims Families Of Abuse

Cardinal Seán Brady has admitted that the families of children being abused by Brendan Smyth should have been informed about the allegations made against him.

The leader of the Catholic church in Ireland also apologised to Brendan Boland, a survivor of paedophile priest Fr Brendan Smyth, but refused to step down despite continued calls for his resignation.

He said there had also been "many many calls from people who want me to stay on."

He said he intended to remain on as primate "until I'm 75, or unless the Holy See indicated it didn't want me to stay", adding that there was absolutely no indication from the Holy See that it wanted him to resign.

A BBC documentary aired last week uncovered new revelations about an internal church investigation into clerical child sex abuse in 1975.

It said Mr Boland, then a teenager who had been sexually abused by Fr Smyth, gave the names and addresses of other children who were at risk from the paedophile priest to Dr Brady, then a 36-year-old priest.

Brady passed the allegations on to his superiors but did not inform police or the children's parents.

Fr Smyth continued to sexually assault one of the boys for a year after that. He also abused the boy's sister for seven years, and four of his cousins, up until 1988.

Asked yesterday if the parents of the children should have been informed at the time, Dr Brady said: "In the particular instance in Dundalk, the parents of all of the victims should have been informed.

"I regret very much that they weren't and obviously if they were in this situation now, I would insist that they be informed."

(H)