A SPOKESMAN for the Catholic Press Office has dismissed as "purely speculative" a figure of 200 cases of sex abuse against clerics claimed to have been mentioned by an Irish bishop in an interview with Australian television.
The figure was attributed to the Bishop of Achonry, Dr Thomas Flynn, in an interview recorded in Ireland about the church here and quoted in yesterday's Sunday World. It contrasted with the figure of SO cases submitted in a report to the Conference of the Hierarchy at Maynooth last October.
The paper quoted the bishop as saying: "I would suspect maybe the ultimate number of sex abuse cases against clerics will be about 200. That's just a guess, now.
Dr Flynn could not be contacted yesterday but the Catholic Press Office said it was clear from what the bishop had said in the interview, recorded last autumn, that any figure for sex abuse cases for any group "is purely speculative".