Ferns diocese denies secret payment to victim

The Diocese of Ferns has denied a newspaper report that it made a secret financial settlement with a victim of the late Fr. Sean Fortune last year.

The Irish Independentclaimed this morning it had learned from a source within the inquiry into abuse in the diocese that one of the priest's victims was paid a substantial cash amount in secret before Bishop Brendan Comiskey resigned last March.

However, the diocese denied this morning that this was a "hush-hush" payment, as claimed in the report.

"A settlement was reached with a victim in 2001 and confirmed to - and reported in - the media at that time," it said in a statement this morning. "A second settlement was made in December 2002 and confirmed to the Irish Independentyesterday. Both settlements were reached after discussions between the legal advisors of both parties".

The statement said that the two victims' complaints had formed part of the criminal investigation and charges that Fr. Fortune was facing at the time of his death.

It said it has a policy of not requesting confidentiality clauses, but does have a policy of not disclosing the details of individual settlements. "In one of these cases we were specifically asked by the victim not to confirm details.

"These inaccuracies . . . would have been clarified by the Diocese, had it been asked to do so," the statement said.

A non-statutory inquiry into child sex abuse within the diocese and the Church's handling of the cases is set to begin in Dublin next month. It will be chaired by former Supreme Court Judge Frank Murphy.