John Charles McQuaid - Allegations of Child Abuse Against The Archbishop

Allegations of Child Abuse Against The Archbishop

In his biography of the Archbishop, John Cooney relates a number of stories that suggest that Dr. McQuaid had an unhealthy interest in children. The main allegation – that the Archbishop had attempted to sexually assault a boy in a Dublin pub – is based on an unpublished essay by McQuaid's antagonist Noel Browne. The allegation has been rejected. Reviewers who praised the biography stated that the author should have left out these allegations (e.g. Dermot Keogh, Professor of History and John A. Murphy, Emeritus Professor of History at University College Cork).

There is a satirical account of the controversy by then Irish Times journalist Kevin Myers in his Irishman's Diary on 10 November 1999. There is also an account by Colum Kennny, Associate Professor of Communications at Dublin City University of a meeting he had with the Archbishop as a teenager in the 1960s. Although his attitude to Dr. McQuaid is hostile, he regards Cooney's allegations as absurd. He also provides this revealing vignette: "I remember the archbishop later sighing about the amount of correspondence he received from people. He waved a hand across the papers on his desk and muttered: They write to me about the system. What system? There are only people; or words to that effect."

Two separate allegations of pedophile abuse by McQuaid were brought to the attention of the Murphy Commission. One complaint alleges abuse of a 12-year-old boy by Archbishop McQuaid in 1961. The complaint concerned an adult who, in January 2003, complained to the Eastern Health Board that he had been abused by Archbishop McQuaid 42 years previously. The EHB and its successor the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), have responsibility for caring for minors (under 18) who have been sexually abused and it is not clear where their duty lies in relation to adults accusing deceased persons. When this complaint came to light several years later, the HSE did not pass this complaint on to the Murphy Commission - again for unexplained reasons - but the Commission is satisfied that this was simply due to human error. In May 2009, the HSE passed the complaint to the then Director of Child Protection in the Dublin Archdiocese, who informed Archbishop Martin, who immediately informed the Murphy Commission.

The archdiocese then organised a further trawl of its files and found a letter “which showed that there was an awareness among a number of people in the archdiocese that there had been a concern expressed" about Archbishop McQuaid in 1999. John Cooney's biography of the Archbishop was published in 1999 and generated enormous publicity - including the publication in the Sunday Times of Cooney's allegations regarding paedophilia. This was very likely to have generated the awareness referred to.

Then in 2010, after the Commission’s report had been published, Archbishop Martin told it he had received another abuse complaint against Archbishop McQuaid. The supplementary report of the Commission said “Archbishop Martin was under no obligation to give the commission this information”. It was now a matter for the archdiocese “to investigate all complaints against this cleric,” it said. The 2010 complaint is the subject of a civil action against the archdiocese.

The Supplement to the Murphy Report can be read at http://www.justice.ie/en/JELR/Dublin_Supp_Rpt.pdf/Files/Dublin_Supp_Rpt.pdf It is a very short document, does not mention Archbishop McQuaid by name, and - unlike the main Report that goes into great detail about child abuse allegations - gives very few details of the claims.

Meanwhile, John Cooney has called on Cardinal Desmond Connell to apologise unreservedly for dismissing claims that the Archbishop McQuaid had improper sexual relations with boys. (Cardinal Connell was Archbishop of Dublin when John Cooney's book was published in 1999 and described his claims of sex abuse as "rumour, hearsay and conjecture".) A statement from John Cooney said: "It inflicted huge moral and material damage on me as an author and journalist. I would expect Cardinal Connell to offer me, and my publisher, the O’Brien Press, this long overdue apology." However he does not appear to have requested apologies from historians like Dermot Keogh, John A. Murphy or Ronan Fanning all of whom were equally dismissive.