Five men who say they were abused by Ivan Payne will now proceed with civil actions against the priest and the Dublin Catholic Archdiocese for compensation, it was confirmed last night.
In a separate case at the High Court in Belfast yesterday, a 36year-old woman who was sexually abused by the Norbertine priest, Brendan Smyth, was awarded £25,000 in compensation.
The men who are suing for compensation in Dublin were among the nine victims central to the criminal case against Payne which ended yesterday with the defendant being sentenced to six years' imprisonment, of which he will serve only two years. Four years were suspended on condition that Payne enters a centre for treatment.
Another of the abuse victims, Mr Andrew Madden, was paid just under £30,000 in an out-of-court settlement by Payne in 1993. The money to cover the settlement was loaned to Payne by the Dublin Archdiocese.
It is understood that a Dublin solicitor, Mr Tim O'Sullivan, of Gallagher Shatter solicitors, will now advise solicitors for the archdiocese and Payne that he is proceeding with a test case.
The victim in the test case was abused by Payne in 1984/1985, three to four years after the church first became aware of the allegations against him in 1981. As he was under 21 years of age when the civil action was initiated, his case is not subject to statute of limitation provisions. He is alleging negligence on the part of the church authorities.
Mr O'Sullivan is representing three of the men and it is understood that another solicitor is representing two more.
Last night, the Archbishop of Dublin, Dr Connell, expressed his "deep sympathy" to those abused by Payne. He offered to meet any of the victims, if they so wished, but acknowledged that it might be difficult for people who had been abused by a priest to approach the church. Nonetheless, he promised "a listening ear and a sympathetic response".
A spokesman for the archdiocese said last night that the compensation claims would be dealt with in the normal way through the legal process.
The woman in the Belfast case, which involved a £25,000 out-of-court settlement, was at the Nazareth House orphanage on Belfast's Ormeau Road when the abuse by Smyth began in 1968. She was aged six at the time. The abuse continued for nine years.
The woman's action was against the Rev Gerard Cusack, the administrator of Smyth's order, the Norbertine Canons, of Kilnacrot, Co Cavan, and Sister Mary Conleth, representing the Sisters of Nazareth.
Smyth, who was 70 when he collapsed and died in prison at The Curragh last August, was also named as a defendant, along with the Eastern Health and Social Services Board and the former Catholic Primate, Cardinal Cahal Daly, on behalf of the Catholic Church.
Last night, the Norbertine Order declined to comment, while nuns at Nazareth House in Belfast were unaware that the case had been dealt with.
Meanwhile, a sexton at St Peter's Catholic Cathedral on Belfast's Falls Road was jailed for two years yesterday for sexually assaulting young people. Martin Kerr (34), of Lisvarna Heights in the Lower Falls, pleaded guilty to 48 crimes involving six youngsters over a 10-year period up to 1996.
To date, 31 Catholic priests and religious brothers have been convicted in Ireland on child sex abuse charges. Another 13 cases are pending.