Cloynes former bishop, John Magee, not to be prosecuted

national | crime and justice | press release Friday October 29, 2010 11:54 by trevor

Survivor groups protest DPP decision

Last week the Office of the Director of Public Prosections announced that it would not prosecute former Bishop of Cloyne, Dr John Magee, for recklessly endangering children by withholding information from gardaí examining allegations of child sexual abuse by a priest in the Cloynes diocese .

Another complaint was been made to gardaí this week alleging sexual abuse by a priest in the Cloyne diocese. Officers have interviewed a woman who claims she was abused by the priest more than 20 years ago, while she was a young teenager. A file is now being prepared for the DPP, who currently has two other files about the priest to consider.

Religious Abuse Truth urges people to contact the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions at 14 - 16 Merrion Street, Dublin 2, Ireland and ask the office to reconsider its decision not to prosecute Dr Magee for withholding from the gardai information about child abusing clerics . Below is the text of a letter sent by Kevin Flanagan from Religious Abuse Truth to the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions .

A Chara,

In the last week the Director of Public Prosecutions has dropped four charges of child abuse against a priest in Cloyne Diocese and also has declined to press charges against John Magee, the former Bishop of Cloyne for his role in not acting correctly and ethically when complaints of child abuse by priests in his diocese were brought to his attention. Mr Magee has admitted these offences but, due to the failure of the DPP to prosecute he will now get away with them. The argument that the “feasibility of proof beyond reasonable doubt” is ringing rather hollow in the light of this admission.

In not acting to prevent further foreseeable abuse Mr Magee acted irresponsibly and cold heartedly towards these innocent children and we are requesting that the Director of Public Prosecutions look at this case again and seriously reconsider the decision not to prosecute Mr Magee.

At present, the victims of these abuses have had little or no justice and in allowing Mr Magee to get away with his crimes the State is sending out a message to all paedophile Roman Catholic clergy in the Republic of Ireland that they are safe from any legal consequences of their actions.
We are putting trust in the DPP to do the right thing in this instance.

Mise le meas ,
Kevin Flanagan
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