Bishop apologises for priest's child sex abuse

A senior bishop issued a public apology from the pulpit at the weekend for the sexual abuse of children by a deceased parish priest.

The Bishop of Killaloe, Dr Willie Walsh, addressed parishioners on Saturday and Sunday in the east Clare parish of Mountshannon and Whitegate over the sexual abuse perpetrated by the late Father Tom McNamara on a number of children in the area.

Father McNamara served as parish priest for the Mountshannon area during the 1970s and 1980s, and Dr Walsh asked Mass-goers for forgiveness for the church over the abuse.

The Mountshannon-Whitegate area was where Brendan O'Donnell murdered Imelda Riney, her son Liam and Father Joe Walsh in April 1994.

The remains of Father McNamara - who died in the mid-1990s - are buried outside the church at Mountshannon, where Dr Walsh made his plea for forgiveness. The bishop did not name Father McNamara, but gave the period in which the abuser served the parish.

Dr Walsh said: "I have met with a small number of people who have suffered abuse at the hands of this man. I just hope and pray that my response to them was in some way a healing one.

"I know only too well that the hurt caused is often so deep that any response will be perceived as inadequate."