Bishop Eamonn Casey case to go ahead despite recent death

HIGH Court proceedings against the late Bishop Eamonn Casey will still go ahead this year despite his recent death.

A Limerick woman initiated the civil proceedings in the High Court against the former bishop, and the case was due to go to trial at a personal injuries hearing in Limerick in the early part of 2017.

The former bishop of Galway and Kerry passed away last Monday at the age of 89, after several years of declining health.

The case was listed last year among five sets of civil proceedings in relation to members of the clergy, regarding a number of claims in the Limerick diocese spanning several decades.

Last month, it was reported that Bishop Casey’s defence was due to be filed by mid-February.

In the case, a joint action is being taken by the woman, now aged in her 60s, against the current Bishop of Limerick, Dr Brendan Leahy, solely in his capacity as head of the Limerick diocese.

The woman is still planning to proceed with the case against Bishop Casey’s estate, according to sources close to the case.

Although born in Kerry, Bishop Casey was brought up in Adare, where his father was a creamery manager.

After attending school at St Munchin's College in Limerick, he studied at the Maynooth seminary and was ordained a priest in 1951 and then moved back to Limerick for his first post.

He was once credited with tackling inner city poverty and homelessness in parishes in Limerick and later in England.

He fell from grace in 1992 with the revelation that he had fathered a child with Annie Murphy, an American divorcee.

Following his death, his family released a statement which publicly acknowledged his son Peter Murphy, who is now 42 and living in Boston.

“We wish to acknowledge the priestly work of Bishop Eamonn, especially in the pursuit of social justice for the marginalised, as evidenced by his work with Shelter in London in the 1950s and 1960s and later with his involvement in the setting up and development of Trócaire,” it said.