A conflict has arisen in Achonry diocese over when Bishop Thomas Flynn was told about allegations of clerical child sex abuse in a parish there.
Yesterday Father Greg Hannan, the delegate appointed by the diocese to deal with such cases, said he informed Bishop Flynn about the allegations in early April 2002, after he was notified himself. However, Bishop Flynn has said he was not told about the allegations until November 2002.
According to the 1996 Irish bishops' guidelines for dealing with such cases, the delegate has an obligation to inform his bishop or the relevant religious superior when he is made aware of such allegations.
Father Hannan also contacted the St Patrick's Missionary Society at Kiltegan, Co Wicklow, at the time. The accused priest, Father Peter Kennedy, belongs to the order. The allegations concerned the abuse in 1982, at his home in Cloonloo, Co Sligo, of Mr Brendan Shannon, then 13, by Father Kennedy, then serving in the parish.
In a High Court settlement on July 28th this year, Mr Shannon was awarded €325,000, paid by St Patrick's Missionary Society.
Bishop Flynn said he was informed about the case "for the first time" by Canon John Doherty, parish priest of Gurteen (of which Cloonloo is a subsidiary parish) Co Sligo, in November 2002. Canon Doherty was told by Mrs Eilish Shannon, mother of Brendan and who, though retired, was then substituting for a colleague at the local national school when Canon Doherty dropped in for a pastoral visit. At her request he called to her home that evening, when she told him about her son's allegations. He told Bishop Flynn and both met members of the Shannon family the following evening.
Father Hannan also said yesterday he had been notified in vague terms about the case in 1996/97 when Mr Brendan Shannon's counsellor contacted him, as was mandatory. However, Mrs Shannon had asked then that the counsellor not forward her son's name, as he was still coming to terms with the abuse.
Father Hannan said he had informed the bishop then that there had been an allegation of abuse in the diocese, which was all he knew himself at the time.
