The Irish Cancer Society has said a convicted sex offender who became one of the public faces of its Daffodil Day fundraising campaign in 2021 did not have any “unsupervised access” to children or vulnerable people in the role.
James Gilleran (70) was jailed for two years on Tuesday after being convicted of sexually abusing three young boys while he was a scout leader of the 117th Francis Street Scout Group in Dublin during the 1980s.
His crimes came to light after a man he abused contacted gardaí to make a formal complaint after he saw Gilleran appearing on The Late Late Show as a volunteer with the Irish Cancer Society in 2021.
The charity told The Irish Times it was shocked to learn of his crimes and insisted that as soon as it had become aware of the allegations against him, his role as a fundraiser had ceased and the relevant authorities were contacted.
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Gilleran, of Parkview Court, Blackhorse Avenue, Cabra, Dublin 7, pleaded guilty to five counts of indecent assault on dates between 1983 and 1987.
Dublin Circuit Criminal Court heard the abuse primarily involved inappropriate touching. The boys were aged between 11 and 13 when Gilleran abused them.
It also emerged that Gilleran had one previous conviction for the sexual assault of a boy in a cerebral palsy clinic and was handed a four-year sentence in 1997, which was reduced to two years on appeal.
“The society was contacted after The Late Late Show in 2021 and made aware of allegations against Mr Gilleran,” a spokeswoman for the charity said.
She said the charity “promptly” reported these allegations to An Garda Síochána, the child and family agency Tusla and Scouting Ireland.
[ Man reported former scout leader to gardaí after appearance on Late Late ShowOpens in new window ]
Gilleran was also “stepped down as a fundraising volunteer” and has not volunteered for the charity since.
The spokeswoman stressed that his work with the charity related “solely to fundraising in public places and media work”.
“At no point would he have had unsupervised access to children or vulnerable people in such a role,” she said.
Asked if background checks were carried out before he took on the public-facing role as “Daff Man” for the Daffodil Day campaign, she said fundraising and media volunteers “are not Garda vetted as their work does not meet the criteria for vetting with the National Vetting Bureau”.
She said the charity was unaware of his previous convictions until the court reports this week.
Rory Patchell, the man who recognised Gilleran from TV, told the court that he had suppressed his memory of the abuse until he saw Gilleran “lauded on TV”.
“James Gilleran, I stand here as a survivor supported by my wife, children and loving family,” he said.
“You have nothing”.
Stephen Devlin, who was also abused by Gilleran, described him as a “pied piper cycling around the Liberties” who presented himself as a “role model” who cared for the young boys in his care.
The third injured party, Greg Stafford, said he was an “innocent child” who was taken advantage of and that Gilleran’s actions have had a lifelong impact on him.
