Sign up to The Irish Times Archive (1859 - 2008)My Account »

The confidentially aspect of an out-of-court settlement agreed between a priest of Derry diocese and a woman who alleged being abused by him as a child over a 10 year period “was not proposed by the diocese, but was proposed to the diocese by one of the other parties, and, to facilitate a Settlement, the diocese agreed,” the Bishop of Derry Seamus Hegarty said in a statement this evening.

He also said the diocese “made no contribution to the money (£12,000 sterling) paid by the priest.”