Television: Searing documentary about sex abuse allegations may forever cast Eamonn Casey in a damning light
, it’s hard to think of a figure more present on the Irish airwaves through the 1980s and early 1990s than bishopThe reason he disappeared was, of course, the scandal over his relationship with Annie Murphy. It is difficult to overstate the damage caused by the revelations of an affair in the early 1970s with an American divorcee 20 years his junior – and of the child he had shunned.
There is powerful testimony from Casey’s niece, Patricia Donovan, who describes being abused by Casey from the age of five. “He had no fear of being caught. He thought he could do what he liked, when he liked, how he liked,” she says. “He was almost, like, incensed that I would dare fight against him, that I would dare try to hurt him, I would dare try to stop him. It didn’t make any difference. “I feel so absolutely and completely and utterly betrayed by the church I was brought up in.
The claims against Casey were “entirely credible”, says Ian Elliott, former chief executive of the National Board for Safeguarding Children in the Irish Catholic Church. “The fact of the matter is that individuals have come forward and spoken about ... numerous sexual activities, some consensual, others not ... It should have been stopped.”
With a running time of more than 90 minutes, the documentary by Anne Sheridan traces the span of Casey’s life in the church, from his early days in Limerick to his time in London, when he helped set up housing charity Shelter.
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