CONSULTATION ON LOCATION OF BISHOP CASEYS REMAINS ‘HAS BEGUN’

He is currently interred in Galway Cathedral.

It follows an investigation that revealed sexual assault allegations against the high-profile bishop, who died in 2017.

The former Bishop of Galway was described as a "sexual predator” by Ian Elliot, former CEO of the National Board for Safeguarding Children in the Irish Catholic Church, in an RTÉ documentary which aired last week.

The documentary titled Bishop Casey's Buried Secrets was made in association with the Irish Mail on Sunday and examined how the Catholic Church handled the allegations made against Bishop Casey.

In light of the allegations, Current Bishop of Galway, Michael Duignan says he's committed to "working with anybody affected, to help bring truth, healing and peace" to "terribly painful situations".

He's added that the interment of Bishop Casey's body in the crypt under Galway Cathedral now requires "a period of careful consideration and consultation", which he says has already begun.

In a statement this morning, the Galway Diocesan Office the interment of Bishop Casey’s remains in the crypt beneath Galway Cathedral was "a very sensitive issue" which "deeply affects people in different ways".

Also included in the documentary is 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.

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.