The trustees of Maynooth College have appointed a senior barrister to conduct an investigation into complaints by seminarians at the college that they were sexually harassed and their concerns ignored.
In a statement yesterday, the trustees confirmed Mr Denis McCullough SC had been appointed to conduct the investigation into alleged serious misconduct at the college in the early 1980s and into charges that complaints to the college authorities "did not receive a proper response".
The investigation is expected to focus on allegations made by six former seminarians about the college's former vice-president, Mgr Micheál Ledwith, and their insistence that their complaints were ignored by nine bishops who were trustees of Maynooth at the time.
Mr McCullough will "seek to establish whether and when such complaints were made to any bishop, officer or trustee of the college, their nature and the steps taken in response to them".
The trustees have expressed their concern over recent media reports that the alleged complaints were ignored by the college authorities. They asked "those who have information or can assist in any way" to co-operate fully with the investigation.
Meanwhile, details of the terms of reference and personnel to be involved in an independent "audit" of how the 26 Catholic Church dioceses in Ireland have dealt with complaints about clerical abuse in recent decades are expected to be released later this month.