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Irish Independent
29-04-2025
- Irish Independent
Funeral details announced for former bishop Brendan Comiskey
Comiskey, who died yesterday at the age of 89, will be buried on Thursday, May 1, at 1pm in the Church of the Sacred Heart, St Johns Drive, Clondalkin, Dublin. The Monaghan native retreated from public life following the publication of the damning Ferns Report which outlined a catalogue of child sex abuse in the diocese over a period of forty years. Bishop Comiskey passed away early Monday morning in the Louth County Hospital, Dundalk, predeceased by his parents, two sisters and seven brothers. It emerged that Bishop Comiskey had failed to protect children from paedophile priests and failed to report allegations that Fr Seán Fortune had abused a number of children. The Ferns report found that Comiskey had had "failed to recognise the paramount need to protect children, as a matter of urgency, from potential abusers". Born in August 1935, Dr Comiskey was originally from Clontibret in Co Monaghan and was ordained a priest in 1961. He became Bishop of Ferns back in 1984, aged just 49. He would serve in the role for 18 years, through what is widely regarded as one of the darkest periods of the Catholic Church. Speaking to the Irish Independent in 2014 about the clerical abuse scandal, he said: 'I did my best and it wasn't good enough and that's it.' For clerical sex abuse survivor Colm O'Gorman, the news of Bishop Comiskey's passing stopped him in his tracks. "I had to think, 'how do I feel about it?'' he said. 'First of all, I'd say that the death of anybody is a sad moment. I genuinely mean it when I offer my heartfelt condolences to his family, friends and those who loved him. "Brendan Comiskey has been a private individual for a very long time. In terms of his legacy, I think it's clearly laid out in the Ferns Report for anyone who wants to read it,' said Mr O'Gorman, who founded the One in Four charity which offers support to women and men who have experienced sexual violence. "He was, however, one Bishop. It was really clear in the years following the report that Ferns was sadly not unique at all.' In recent years, Bishop Comiskey had been under the care of the Sisters of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary in Ranelagh in Dublin.
Irish Independent
28-04-2025
- Irish Independent
Death of Bishop Brendan Comiskey: ‘He was the enforcer of the systemic cover-up of crimes by priests that was directed by the Vatican'
Former Bishop of Ferns, who has died at the age of 89, resigned in disgrace over his handling of child sexual abuse carried out by paedophile priest, Seán Fortune Today at 14:56 News of the death of Bishop Brendan Comiskey, at the age of 89, revives ghosts of the Irish church's past clerical abuse scandals even as new abuse revelations concerning schools emerge today. The 271-page Ferns Report was published on October 25, 2005. It criticised Comiskey for his failure to get accused priests in his diocese to step aside from priestly ministry. He had been told repeatedly of Fr Seán Fortune's abuse of boys in the diocese but failed to take action.
