Bishop Eamonn Casey Was A 'Sexual Predator', Documentary Told

Former Bishop of Galway Eamonn Casey has been described as a "sexual predator" ahead an upcoming RTÉ documentary set to be aired this evening.

These were the words of Ian Elliot, former CEO of the National Board for Safeguarding Children in the Irish Catholic Church in a documentary which is made in association with the Irish Mail on Sunday.

This documentary, titled Bishop Casey's Buried Secrets, which airs this evening on RTÉ Television, will examine how the Catholic Church handled the allegations made against Bishop Casey.

It will include an interview from one of Bishop Casey's accusers, his niece Patricia Donovan, who alleged that she was first raped by her uncle when she was 5 years old, and that the sexual abuse carried on for years.

"the horror"

Ms Donovan's account of her ordeal has been described as "entirely credible" by Ian Elliot, who has in depth knowledge of her complaint against Bishop Casey.

"Some of the things he did to me, and where he did them...the horror of being raped by him when I was five, the violence. And it just carried on in that vein...He had no fear of being caught", Ms Donovan says first the first time on camera. 

She added: "He thought he could do what he liked, when he liked, how he liked...He was almost, like, incensed that I would dare fight against him, that I would dare try and hurt him, I would dare try and stop him... It didn’t make any difference....". 

Having first received information from the Mail on Sunday in 2019 regarding one allegation of sexual abuse against Bishop Casey, the Galway Diocese have since confirmed that it actually had at that time of "five people who had complained of childhood sexual abuse against Bishop Casey".

The documentary says that these independent accusations also relate to alleged events from every diocese that Bishop Casey worked in, as well as revealing that the Limerick Diocese paid over €100,000 in a settlement to one of Casey's accusers following his death in 2017.

It was also confirmed that Bishop Casey was removed from the public ministry by the Vatican in 2007 in light of sexual abuse allegations from his niece and others. This was never fully disclosed during the Bishop's lifetime.

Despite resigning as Bishop of Galway in 1992, Eamonn Casey remained a bishop until his death, insisting that he was unjustly removed. 

Friends, colleagues and supporters all tell this documentary of their shock at these allegations, with the Vatican declining to comment on what investigative process was followed or if the sanctions were imposed against Bishop Case were punitive or precautionary. 

Bishop Casey's Buried Secrets airs tonight at 9.35pm on RTÉ Television.