Fears are growing of further delays in legal actions linked to prolific abuser Malachy Finegan after the Dromore Diocese moved to sever ties with co-defendant St Colman’s College.
The move, which surprised and deeply disappointed both victims and their legal representatives, also now leaves the Newry grammar school facing potential substantial liability for damages and costs.
A voluntary grammar, the school receives the majority of funding from the Education Authority, though it is understood to have other key sources, including gifts and donations.
In all of the actions so far where Finegan is named, the diocese and the school Board of Governors have been co-defendants, with the former covering the costs.
Diocesan legal representatives revealed in correspondence the decision to officially come “off the record”, that the diocese no longer wants them to also represent the school in the still large number of cases before the High Court.
Further, the diocese makes clear it is “seeking indemnity from the college in relation to any award for damages and costs”, effectively that the school should pay its share.
Lawyers for those abused by Finegan said the move, first signalled during legal hearings late last year, was hugely disappointing for victims as it is likely to further delay the conclusion of cases,
It is argued they will become more complicated as the school and the diocese take almost adversarial positions.
Claire McKeegan, of Phoenix Law, who has represented 30 former St Colman’s pupils, said it is “extremely disappointing, frustrating but almost damaging to mental health” that after all the years litigating the decision was made now to separate the co-defendants.
Ms McKeegan only heard at a court hearing late last year when the defendants requested a further adjournment of two actions.
In a statement, the diocese said: “The Diocese of Dromore does not comment on matters that are subject to ongoing legal discussions.” St Colman’s was contacted for comment.
The diocese has argued in legal hearings the decision was made because other staff members, both clerical and lay, are also being accused of physical and sexual abuse alongside Finegan.
However, the move is likely designed also to limit the amount the diocese has to pay out, though it is entirely unclear to what extent.
In response, lawyers for victims – and potentially in the future those now representing St Colman’s – are countering the school and its board of governors at the time of the alleged offences were entirely under the control of the clergy and the diocese, a situation that is now reversed, through the diocese still owns the building.
The diocese has already paid out millions of pounds across multiple cases linked to Finegan, a prolific physical and sexual abuser of boys over close to three decades while a staff member and later principal of the grammar school. He was further accused of offences after being moved to parishes in the diocese. He died in 2002.
KRW Law, which represents a plaintiff whose trial was listed for hearing last September, only received official word earlier this month of the diocese’s plan to no longer cover the school in Finegan-linked cases.
The firm was asked to postpone the next hearing in February due to the changed circumstances, a request it has so far denied largely on the grounds the plaintiff “is extremely vulnerable and suffers from ongoing PTSD”.
Ms McKeegan, who has helped settle approximately 20 cases, added that those remaining are the “most serious and grave” relating to “horrific sexual abuse”.
