This May, the Archbishop of Dublin Diarmuid Martin called for an independent commission to investigate claims that the
Cardinal Brady failed to report multiple cases of child sex abuse by a priest.
During a private investigation in 1975 of the convicted paedophile Priest Brandon Smyth,Cardinal Brady obtained a list of names of children who were being abused. A BBC documentary has revealed that despite passing this information on to his superior, he failed to inform the police or the children's parents of the abuse.
Fr Smyth continued to abuse children for almost 20 years until he was convicted in 1994 of 17 counts of sexual abuse.
Cardinal Brady has refused to step down from his position as Primate, despite increasing pressure from politicians north and south of the Irish border.
Archbishop Martin believes that an independent international commission of inquiry "would be in the public interest". Please support his call for clarity and justice.
We the undersigned support the Archbishop of Dublin Diarmuid Martin’s call for an investigation into past allegations of sex abuse by the Priest Brandon Smyth. In particular, we support his call to investigate claims that Cardinal Brady withheld the names of the victims from the police and their parents during an internal investigation.
The failure of Cardinal Brady to communicate such vital information to the police in 1975 allowed Fr Brandon Smyth to continue to sexually abuse children until his conviction in 1994. Fr Brandon Smyth was convicted of 17 counts of sexual abuse by a Belfast Court and it is feared there could be more than 30 victims. It is wholly unjust and disgraceful that a one of the most respected members of the Catholic Church was involved in a cover-up that resulted in the violation of children.
Therefore we believe that an independent international commission of inquiry is in the public interest.
Thank you for your attention.
