LAWYERS for a mentally handicapped man who abused two youths are to seek damages from the Diocese of Ossory for years of sexual abuse he suffered at the hands of a local priest.
Solicitors acting for Bishop Laurence Forristal have denied any liability on the part of the diocese for the activities of the cleric, who was jailed for eight years for sexual assaults on a number of victims.
Mr Michael Lanigan, representing the man, said damages will be sought from the church on behalf of his client, who first alerted gardai to the priest's activities after being arrested himself on sexual abuse charges in 1994.
Last week, the High Court ordered the South Eastern Health Board to provide care for the man, who has suffered sexual abuse in State institutions all his life and has a mental age of 12.
Mr Lanigan said he hoped the church would not force the man to go through the process of seeking damages after the trauma he had suffered while living in a caravan in the priest's garden and the recent stress of going through the courts.
He told The Irish Times: "Now that we are happy that we have got a good care situation in place for him ... we expect more than Just an expression of sympathy.
"Nobody from the church has gone to apologise to him for what happened. He deserves a full public apology. It is nothing short of a scandal what happened to him.
A letter from solicitors acting for the Bishop of Ossory, dated November 5th, 1996, said the bishop "expressed his concern for the well-being of Mr and supported practical steps being taken to help him.
However, in relation to the offences of the convicted cleric, the bishop had been advised he had no liability.
The decision by the man's solicitors to seek damages follows last week's High Court ruling that the South Eastern Health Board should care for him.
The man, now aged 31, was given an 18-month sentence in Kilkenny District Court last year, but the judge insisted that the health board instead accommodate him.
The health board has now agreed to provide a supervised hostel place and placement in a therapeutic facility for people with behavioural difficulties.
It is estimated the cost of proving such a service and accommodation for this man and six others will be around £400,000.
Mr Lanigan said the decision was unprecedented, as it was the first time an effort had been made to provide such services for paedophiles such as this man.
However, he condemned the health board's long delay in agreeing to care for the man, who had been a victim all his life. The judge who convicted him of sexually assaulting two young men described him as "more sinned against than sinning".
He had been admitted to St Canice's psychiatric hospital in Kilkenny 31 times over a 10-year period, once after he had slashed his face with a blade. He had been treated there 11 times after taking overdoses.
He was first taken into care when eight months old and when the family moved to England he was put into care before he was two.
A number of people to whom he went for help in his teenage years abused him, including clerics.
While he was on probation in 1985, a Co Kilkenny priest offered to look after him. He lived in a caravan in the grounds of the presbytery and suffered persistent sexual assaults by the cleric.
Mr Lanigan stressed the man was acutely aware of his own paedophilic tendencies and for years had pleaded with the authorities to help him. Despite his admissions that he was a risk to young men, nothing had been done to help his client.