Fr Donal Collins:When the first reports of child sexual abuse were made to the Ferns diocese in 1966 about an abusing priest, Fr Donal Collins, he was sent to a parish in London for two years, the report said.
However, it noted that the then bishop of Ferns, Bishop Donal Herlihy, did not tell the diocese of Westminster to which he was sent why he was removed from St Peter's College in Wexford, where he had been a science teacher. "Such omission warrants very serious criticism," the report said.
The report also said that after Fr Collins spent two years in Britain, he returned to teach at St Peter's again.
The decision of Bishop Herlihy to restore him to his former position in a boys' boarding school "would seem to have been extremely ill advised as subsequent events were to prove in a comprehensive and tragic fashion".
The Ferns report gives graphic details of abuses alleged to have been perpetrated by Fr Collins against boys attending St Peter's over many years. The first in 1966 alleged he was measuring the length of boys' penises in the boarders' dormitory.
Bishop Brendan Comiskey appointed Fr Collins as principal of St Peter's in 1988.
Two priests claimed to the inquiry that they had expressed reservations to Bishop Comiskey about his appointment as principal.
In April 1989, within seven months of Fr Collins's appointment as principal, Bishop Comiskey received his first allegation of sexual abuse against him. A further allegation was made in May 1989. Fr Collins denied the allegations. Bishop Comiskey said his inquiries revealed unfocused allegations.
In May 1991, Bishop Comiskey received an anonymous letter with a further complaint, the report said. Fr Collins denied the extent of the charge made against him but did not dispute that he "engaged in indiscreet and inappropriate conduct with young boys". In July 1991, Fr Collins resigned as principal.
Later in 1991 Fr Collins attended a course in Florida to seek counselling, Bishop Comiskey said. There he was also attached to a parish and Bishop Comiskey admitted he did not inform the bishop of the diocese in Florida of the allegations that had been made against Fr Collins.
The report said that in September 1993, Fr Collins admitted "the broad truth" of many of the allegations made against him. Bishop Comiskey told the inquiry he did not consider reporting this to gardaí or the South Eastern Health Board.
In a statement to gardaí in May 1995 in connection with allegations made against Fr Collins by one man, the report said, Bishop Comiskey said Fr Collins continued to deny any wrongdoing.
The report said this was incorrect and that Bishop Comiskey knew from 1993, if not 1991, that Fr Collins had admitted the abuse of boys at St Peter's.
In 1995, Fr Collins was charged with 21 counts of indecent assault and gross indecency and one of buggery against four former students at St Peter's.
He took civil proceedings by way of judicial review in May 1996, seeking a prohibition of the hearing of the charges. That application was refused.
In March 1998, he pleaded guilty to four charges of gross indecency and one of indecent assault. He was sentenced to four years imprisonment and served one year at the Curragh prison. He was released in 1999.