€1.5m trust fund for clerical abuse victims

A €1.5 million trust fund was established by the Diocese of Killaloe to help provide healing for people hurt by clerical sex abuse, Bishop Willie Walsh has revealed.

The Killaloe Diocese sold a piece of land at Westbourne, Ennis to the town council for more than €1.5 million, which it used to set up a special fund in 2002.
Bishop Walsh has also confirmed that payments totalling €65,000 were paid to a Clare man who has alleged he was sexually abused in the 1980s by three priests who studied together. One of the clerics was working in the Killaloe Diocese at the time of the alleged abuse.
Bishop Walsh outlined how he paid the man €25,000 from his own personal funds while another €40,000 came from the diocesan fund after at least nine face-to-face meetings and numerous contact through phone calls and letters.
Bishop Walsh revealed he gave this man more money than any other victim of clerical abuse in the past, having responded to what he perceived to be a person in genuine need at the time.
The bishop stressed he never suggested that  the money paid to this man could in some way be regarded as a secret payment or that he was trying to buy his silence, which was something he would not do.
He said while the trust fund was primarily set up to help victims of clerical sex abuse, money was drawn to help this man, who didn’t fit into this category.
Although the proceeds of the land sale were invested and grew over a number of years, most of the fund has been exhausted following payments to different victims.
“I would hope that my motivation was one of genuine care for this person, who had been so hurt by a priest in the Killaloe diocese.
“I don’t have any regrets. I am told that I am very naïve when it comes to helping some people. I do give away a fair bit of my own money to people in need. I am not a spender and I don’t stay in hotels.
“I would be in debt a lot of the time in my own personal account. I borrow from my friends and pay it back later. I don’t want any thanks for that. I am never short of money. I make a distinction between diocesan money and my own personal money,” he said.
Bishop Walsh also insisted that he has done everything he could to try and help this man on the road towards healing and has given him a lot of his time over the last five years.
However, he added that he was not claiming that he was able to fully make up for what has happened to this man in the past.
He also acknowledged it wasn’t possible to put a financial figure on compensation for the man, who says his life has been destroyed by the abuse.
Asked  if a new independent committee should be established to deal with victims of clerical abuse, he said he didn’t have a problem with the establishment of a new committee but found it somewhat difficult to visualise how this would work.
Acknowledging there was a perception that bishops had not dealt with the issue of clerical abuse well in the past, he argued this was not the case today, as every alleged abuse was reported to the gardaí and the Health Service Executive to deal with the complaint.