High Court rules Murphy report can be published in full

A High Court judge has ruled  the Murphy report into child abuse in the Dublin Roman Catholic archdiocese can be published in full.

Mr Justic Paul Gilligan also said he wanted to acknowledge the dedication and work of Judge Yvonne Murphy and her team in producing “such a comprehensive and enlightening report”.

Mr Justice Gilligan previously made orders prohibiting publication of chapter 20 of the report but he set aside those orders yesterday and said the Minister for Justice could now publish the commission’s report in its “complete original form.”

It was in the public interest to explain why certain prohibitions were put in place in regards to certain chapters of the report, he said.

The restrictions were intended  to ensure criminal proceedings against certain people mentioned in the report were not prejudiced.

When the report was first published, prosecutions against some people mentioned in the report were pending, he said. Extradition proceedings from the United States were also in being against one person.

The Minister had expressed his concerns, in hearings held in private, about the effect publication might have on the trials. Given those concerns, the court had exercised its discretion not to publish certain parts of the report.

Now those prosecutions had concluded, and because there were no prosecutions pending, he was removing all restrictions previously made and allowing the report be published in an unredacted state.

The report, compiled by Circuit court Judge Yvonne Murphy, investigated the handling of clerical child sex abuse allegations involving 46 priests in Dublin’s Catholic archdiocese by church and State authorities between 1975 and 2004.

Chapters 20 and 19 of the report were withheld when it was published on November 26th 2009, pending the outcome of proceedings involving two priests.

In December 2010 Mr Justice Gilligan ruled chapter 19, relating to former priest Tony Walsh, could be published following Walsh’s conviction on 17 counts of sexual abuse.

Walsh was sentenced to 16 years imprisonment, with  four suspended, on 17 counts of sexual abuse, including five counts of  buggery on one boy.

Restrictions on chapter 20 remained in place until they were lifted yesterday.