SEAN BRADY TO APPEAR BEFORE NORTH’S ABUSE INQUIRY
The former Primate of All Ireland Sean Brady will appear before the North’s Historical Institutional Abuse Inquiry today.
The probe is focusing on the abuses carried out by paedophile priest Brendan Smyth, and examining whether systemic failings allowed him to continue offending for so long.
Yesterday, the inquiry heard that gardaí were aware of Smyth’s abuses as early as the 1970s.
Patrick Corrigan is the programme director of Amnesty International in Northern Ireland.
He says former Cardinal Brady’s testimony comes after a harrowing week, which has raised questions about the Church’s failure to act on reports of abuse.
“Far too few people have been held criminally responsible and I think that’s a matter of deep regret for victims” he said.
“And (it) also undermines the authority of the church, sadly, in terms of their ability with deal with these allegations credibly and to demonstrate that times have changed” he added.
