Child sexual abuse allegations made against Bishop Eamonn Casey

Speaking on camera, Ms Donovan tells the investigation: “Some of the things he did to me, and where he did them… the horror of being raped by him when I was five, the violence. And it just carried on in that vein… He had no fear of being caught.

“He thought he could do what he liked, when he liked, how he liked…He was almost, like, incensed that I would dare fight against him, that I would dare try and hurt him, I would dare try and stop him… It didn’t make any difference…”.

The former CEO of the National Board for Safeguarding Children in the Irish Catholic Church has described Bishop Casey as “a sexual predator”.

Ian Elliott who has direct knowledge of Ms Donovan’s complaint against Casey, told the investigation that he found the account of what she experienced “entirely credible”.

In 2019, the Galway Diocese informed the Irish Mail on Sunday that it had received just one allegation of child sexual abuse against Bishop Casey.

It has since confirmed that, in fact, it had a record at that time of “five people who had complained of childhood sexual abuse against Bishop Casey”.

These independent accusations relate to alleged events in every Irish diocese where Bishop Casey worked.