Mags Gargan
The family of a deceased Christian Brother who was accused of child abuse in a now infamous RTÉ documentary, has gathered 100 statements from witnesses contradicting the programme’s allegations.
In 2011, RTÉ paid substantial damages to Co. Galway priest Fr Kevin Reynolds and apologised for broadcasting false allegations in the programme Mission to Prey that he had sexually abused a teenage girl in Kenya and fathered a child by her.
An independent report found the programme had been marred by “a groupthink atmosphere of unchallenged assumptions”.
The programme is again this week the subject of a defamation case against RTÉ taken by Richard Burke, the former Archbishop of Benin city in Nigeria. He had resigned his position as archbishop in 2010 because he admitted he had breached his vow of celibacy. However, he denies the RTÉ allegation which suggested he was a paedophile.
The family of Bro. Gerard Dillon, who was originally from Co. Clare and died in South Africa in December 2005, had engaged with RTÉ for 18 months following the Mission to Prey broadcast in attempt to clear his name.
The family presented RTÉ with 100 statements from people who were in school with Tyrone Selmon, the man who made the allegations, and 18 statements from people who shared his dormitory room, contradicting his allegations. “As far as we are concerned no one has confirmed his claim and no one has come forward, instead we have 100 statements saying nothing like that happened. We still believe he was completely innocent, but there is only so far you can go to uphold the reputation of a deceased person,” a member of the Dillon family told The Irish Catholic.
“It was a long protracted experience, with no satisfactory result in the end. RTÉ’s attitude was just dreadful from beginning to end. Their whole approach was aggressive and adversarial. All they were doing was making sure they would not get sued and they were not interested in getting to the truth.”
