Silence over who decided to bury disgraced Bishop Eamonn Casey in cathedral crypt

The head of the Catholic Church in Ireland has refused to reveal what he knew about the ban imposed on Bishop Eamonn Casey because of sex abuse complaints.

The Pope’s envoy to Ireland, as well as senior Church figures in the dioceses of Galway, Kerry, and Limerick, have also all refused to answer any questions about the decision to honor the disgraced cleric by interring his remains in Galway Cathedral.

This cloak of silence by the Primate of All Ireland, Eamon Martin, and other senior Church figures – surrounding why Casey’s remains were laid to rest in a crypt reserved for bishops – comes as Garda Commissioner Drew Harris this weekend confirmed detectives are reviewing their original investigation into rape allegations made by one of the cleric’s nieces.

The review follows damning revelations in a joint Irish Mail on Sunday and RTÉ investigation, "Bishop Casey’s Buried Secrets." Two weeks ago, this newspaper revealed that, at the time of Casey’s death, eight allegations had been made against him by children and adult women.

An investigation into the Catholic Church's handling of allegations against the former Bishop of Galway, Eamonn Casey.#BishopCaseysBuriedSecrets | Tonight at 9.35pm | @RTEplayer pic.twitter.com/x16ubsj38Y

— RTÉ One (@RTEOne) July 22, 2024

Two women received compensation payments. One was Ellen Murphy, for a complaint of historical abuse in 2001. Now deceased, Ms. Murphy was given a €40,000 award by the Residential Institutions Redress Board.

In her claim, she stated that, while living at a reformatory school run by a religious order, she was sexually assaulted by Casey, who was then a priest.

She also claimed she had been abused on a second occasion.

Another woman received €100,000 in compensation as part of a personal injuries case that was settled out of court.

The Galway Diocese told the documentary it had more allegations on its files than it had previously disclosed.

In 2019, the diocese told the Mail on Sunday it had one allegation on file. But church officials admitted during the course of the Mail on Sunday / RTÉ investigation that there were five allegations of child sexual abuse on its file against Casey.

These allegations were reported in every Irish diocese in which he served – Limerick, Kerry, and Galway – and took place over four decades, from the 1950s to the 1980s.

Among those five complaints was one made by Bishop Casey’s niece Patricia Donovan, from Limerick.

She claims she was raped and sexually assaulted by her uncle from the age of five in 1967 for more than a decade. She reported her claims in 2005, but Bishop Casey was never charged with or convicted of any sexual offence. 

Bishop Casey was banned from public ministry by the Vatican after it was notified of allegations against him.

This ban was first imposed sometime before 2006 but was reiterated in 2007. And although it remained in place until the day Casey died, it was never publicly disclosed by the Vatican during Casey’s lifetime.

The Pope’s envoy to Ireland, the Papal Nuncio, did not attend Casey’s funeral. Neither did the Primate of All Ireland, Eamon Martin, then-Archbishop of Dublin Diarmuid Martin, Bishop of Limerick Brendan Leahy, Bishop of Kerry Raymond Browne, or the then-Archbishop of Tuam, Michael Neary.

At the funeral, it was stated that the Primate of All Ireland and the now-deceased Archbishop of Tuam were unable to attend due to other commitments, linked to Confirmation ceremonies.

The Diocese of Galway is overseen by the Archbishop of Tuam as he holds the title of the Metropolitan Bishop of Tuam, and this includes the Diocese of Galway.

Ireland’s most senior Church figure, Archbishop Eamon Martin, declined to respond to queries this weekend regarding what he knew about a ban imposed by the Vatican on Bishop Casey.

Instead, he referred our queries to statements released a week ago after the documentary was broadcast on RTÉ.

The Papal Nuncio did not provide any response to a list of detailed questions.

The Diocese of Galway also declined to respond to specific questions about who made the decision to hold Casey’s funeral at Galway Cathedral.

Bishop Eamonn Casey was born in Kerry and reared in Adare, Co Limerick. However, the dioceses of Kerry and Limerick have refused to reveal whether they offered to host his funeral. They also declined to explain why their respective bishops did not attend the funeral at Galway Cathedral.

*This article was originally published on Extra.ie.