17 priests face abuse allegations in Derry diocese

As the fallout continues in the wake of the Murphy report, it’s emerged there are currently 17 priests facing allegations of abuse in the Derry diocese.
The figures are published in todays’s Derry Journal, with Bishop Seamus Hegarty saying all allegations have been reported to the either the PSNI or the gardai.
It’s understood that at present, there are no proceedings pending against any of the 17 priests, all of whom are still alive, but not necessarily based in the Derry diocese at present.
The diocese has also confirmed that one priest on loan to the diocese has been convicted of child sex abuse.
The last list furnished by the diocese just over four years ago revealed that 26 priests, both alive and dead, had claims made against them.
There are also a number of outstanding allegations where the identity of the priest is unknown.
The Murphy report exposed 30 years of ‘denial, arrogance and cover-up’ of clerical abuse in the Dublin archdiocese.
The Justice Minister Dermot Ahern says the report documents a scandal on an ‘astonishing’ scale, while Archbishop of Dublin Diarmuid Martin said no words of apology would ever be sufficient, and admitted that the damage done to children abused by priests can never be undone