The Murphy Commission described Walsh as “the most notorious child sexual abuser” to have come to its attention. The commission investigated how clerical child sex abuse allegations were handled in Dublin’s Catholic archdiocese between 1975 and 2004. It found that the archdiocese did not report child sexual abuse allegations against Walsh to the Garda for 17 years after it first received such complaints about him. It also revealed that in 1989 it had been suggested in the archdiocese that Walsh, then an admitted (to the archdiocese) child sex abuser, be appointed to the regional marriage tribunal, which dealt mainly with annulments. Sometime between 1980 and 1982, there were complaints to Archbishop’s House about Walsh’s abuse of young girls at a summer camp.

Source: The Irish Times February 20, 2019 23:57 UTC