Bishop Thomas Finnegan, who is being sued in his representative capacity as Bishop of Killala regarding the appointment of a teacher to a Co Mayo national school in the 1940s, yesterday lost a High Court application seeking the dismissal of a claim for damages by a woman who alleges that she was sexually abused by that teacher.
The bishop who, in his representative capacity, is being sued along with the State, had claimed there had been inordinate and inexcusable delay on the part of the woman in bringing her action.
The woman wants to pursue her claim for damages for personal injuries allegedly sustained in the 1940s while she was a pupil at a national school where, she alleges, a teacher sexually abused her over a period of one year.
She claims that she suffered severe emotional trauma and that the effects of this abuse have endured to this day and have effectively destroyed her life. Her proceedings were issued on June 28th, 2001.
In a reserved judgment, Mr Justice Peart rejected an application on behalf of Bishop Finnegan to have the claim dismissed on grounds of inexcusable delay.
The woman alleges that while she was at the school it was under the management, under control of and financed by the Minister for Education and Science, by Bishop Thomas Finnegan and the State.
In replies to particulars dated January 2002, it was stated that no allegation was being made against Bishop Finnegan personally and that he was being sued in a representative capacity as Bishop of Killala. It is claimed that the bishop's predecessors in title would have been responsible for the appointment of the teacher against whom the allegations have been made.