A victim of the late Father Sean Fortune said today he was hopeful the Catholic Church would co-operate with the inquiry into the handling of clerical sex abuse cases in the Diocese of Ferns.
Mr Colm O'Gorman told ireland.comhe and other victims of Father Fortune had last night received assurances from the Minister for Health, Mr Martin, that there would be transparency in the agencies involved in the handling of sexual abuse cases in the diocese.
"We hope the church will co-operate. This is not an inquiry into canon law at any level. It’s an inquiry into criminal law," said Mr O’Gorman.
He said if Church co-operation did not come, the inquiry would get all the powers it needed to get to the bottom of the case.
Before yesterday’s meeting with Mr Martin, Mr O’Gorman and others were asked to write down what they wanted included in the scope of an inquiry. Mr O’Gorman said everything they had asked for had been granted by Mr Martin.
"We are very, very pleased with this. Clearly the Minister wants to get to the bottom of this. There was nothing wishy washy about what the Minister said at the meeting," said Mr O’Gorman.