Garry O'Sullivan

A retired Dublin priest has criticised The Irish Times newspaper for what he regards is a failure to substantiate a claim in their editorial of November 27 last that appeared to implicate the majority of priests in the cover up of abuse in the Dublin Diocese. The offending line which read ''The vast majority of uninvolved priests turned a blind eye'' was described by Fr Padraig McCarthy as ''a serious and gratuitous accusation against many priests, living and dead.''

Misreading

He added: ''It appears to be a misreading of the report, paragraph 1.24.'' This paragraph reads: ''Some priests were aware that particular instances of abuse had occurred. A few were courageous and brought complaints to the attention of their superiors. The vast majority simply chose to turn a blind eye. The cases show that several instances of suspicion were never acted upon until inquiries were made. Some priest witnesses admitted to the Commission that they had heard various reports 'on the grapevine'.

However, The Irish Times did publish a correction on December 16 which said: ''this related to those priests who were aware that particular instances of abuse had occurred.'' Fr McCarthy contends that ''this [correction] does not alter the serious accusation against the '''vast majority'''.

Edited

Writing in Tuesday's Rite and Reason column - an edited version of an article he published earlier in The Furrow - Fr McCarthy complains: ''The Irish Times insists that the correction is adequate. Readers may judge. It is sad that the newspaper has not issued the apology due for the original statement. Even if the correction were adequate, impersonal correction without apology to those accused does not meet even normal human courtesy standards.''

The Irish Times have confirmed that Fr McCarthy put the matter in the hands of the Office of the Press Ombudsman and that the Editor Geraldine Kennedy wrote to the Case Officer pointing out that the editorial had already been clarified. Fr McCarthy was then offered the opportunity to write an article on the Murphy report (which he availed of) which could also dwell on The Irish Times editorial as long as he acknowledged that a correction had been published.