December 3rd 2015

Further correspondence to Bishop Francis Duffy.

The Most Reverend Francis Duffy

Bishop of Ardagh and Clonmacnoise
Diocesan Offices
St. Michael's
Longford.

Dear Bishop Francis,

“I have considered your considered response of 28^th July to my original correspondence of 21st July 2014 on the matter of the activities of Fr. Brendan Hynds.  In John 18:37, Jesus describes his mission:

“I came into the world to bear witness to the truth; and all who are on the side of truth listen to my voice”.

Pilate replied “Quid est veritas?” Pilate of course is most famous for his washing of hands to abdicate responsibility. You seem to be adopting the same position by referring the activities of the afore-mentioned priest to the Civic Authorities as if the Church has no responsibility in this matter.

There are two elements of significance in your letter.

Firstly the tone and construct of your correspondence would indicate that you do not doubt the accuracy of my claims in respect of Fr Hynds' activities.

“As Fr. Hynds activities were criminal” would appear to be a de facto statement. The Diocesan officials who have considered this matter could hardly have reached this conclusion on the basis of one univestigated report as probably can be confirmed by “the file” to which you refer.

The second issue is that Fr. Bannon's version of events in his interview with myself contains one very serious error. In light of this and lest there be any more accidental or deliberate mistakes in his report I am now requesting the following to which I am entitled.

You may regard this request as a data subject access request which can be made in respect of personal data controlled or processed by another party.

A) A contemporaneous copy of Fr. Bannon’s minute of the meeting between himself and me in 2005 including date, time and location.

B) Copies of reports to the Gardaí and the HSE in 2005 including the details of the grounding source and the confirmations of receipt.

C) Copies of the recent reports of same including the source and recipient details.

D) Access to the sections of the file which are pertinent to my inclusion in the said file.

 

As to your offer to meet with yourself and the Diocesan Designated Officer, I am already only too well aware of your ability to perform a U-Turn on a commitment to the laity when the considerations of the clergy are a factor.

The idea of offering me support from the 'Towards Healing' and 'Towards Peace' is nothing short of an insult. Considering the hierarchy in both of these token outfits, both headed up by your fellow county man, Cardinal Brady, this can only be a classic case of appointing the felon to investigate the felony and offer succour to the victims.”

On September 12^th 2014 the Bishop issued the following reply.

Dear Mr Walsh,

I refer to your request under Data Protection Acts 1988 and 2003(the “Acts) dated 16^th August 2014, which was received on 19^th August 2014.

I note that your request is for access to documents specified at A to D therein whether held in hard copy or soft copy form.

In accordance with your request, I enclose the information constituting your personal data in permanent form (photocopies), as held by me and to which you are entitled under the Acts.

Please note that, in accordance with the Acts, where appropriate, personal data of third parties and legally privileged correspondence have been omitted or redacted.

I trust this is satisfactory. If however, you are unsatisfied with this response, you may make a complaint to the Data Protection Commissioner, Canal House, Station Road, Portarlington, Co. Laois.

Francis Duffy

Bishop of Ardagh and Clonmacnoise.