Ireland top cleric in sex abuse row

Ireland’s senior most Catholic cleric has rejected calls to quit after being accused of trying to cover up allegations of child abuse by a notorious paedophile priest in the 1970s.

Cardinal Sean Brady faced demands to resign after it emerged he failed to notify authorities after atte-nding meetings in 1975 where two alleged victims of Father Brendan Smyth signed an oath of secrecy.

Cardinal Brady, then a priest and part-time secretary to the late Bishop of Kilmore Francis McKiernan, was present at the me-etings at the direction of the bishop, a statement from the Catholic Church said.

The church was investigating sex abuse complaints against Father Brendan Smyth whose activities led to the fall of Prime Minister Albert Reynolds’ coa-lition government in 1994. Father Smyth, who is bel-ieved to have abused hundreds of children over a 40-year period, was finally ja-iled in the 1990s and died in prison. Cardinal Brady insi-sted on Sunday his presen-ce at the meetings was not a “resigning matter” and said he failed to contact the state authorities at the time as he was not the “designated person” to do so.

- Indian Journalist.