Malachy Finegan: Abuse survivor receives £400,000 settlement

Fr Malachy Finegan was accused of a long campaign of child sexual abuse but was never prosecuted or questioned by police

A County Down man who was abused by paedophile priest Fr Malachy Finegan has received a £400,000 settlement.

The 51-year-old, who wishes to remain anonymous, was abused by Finegan over a three-year period in the 1980s.

He was a student attending St Colman's College in Newry at the time.

Finegan taught and worked at the school from 1967 to 1987, spending the last decade as the school's president. He went on to serve as a parish priest in Clonduff, County Down.

Belfast law firm, KRW Law, who represented the abuse survivor, said it "understood the settlement figure is the biggest ever for a victim of abuse by Malachy Finegan".

It said he had proceedings against the Diocese of Dromore alleging assault, battery and trespass to the person.

It added that the case started two years ago and was due for hearing later this year, but "after intensive discussions and negotiations, the parties reached a resolution".

The case was settled without any admission of liability, earlier this month, the Irish News reported.

Owen Winters of KRW Law said that "in this particular case the details of the suffering endured by this man reached a new level of depravity".

He said this included sexual abuse during school hours.

Mr Winters added the abuse survivor "has had a very traumatic journey to get to this point in his life".

"He has chosen to keep his anonymity but at some point when the time is right he may think about going public on his plight," he added.

"That is a deeply personal decision and given the ordeal he was put through as a child he needs some time and space to make that decision.

"He recognises the need to guard against complacency when it comes to exposing historic clerical abuse and for the wider community to be reminded about just how awful it is for Finegan to have escaped detection and prosecution."

Finegan taught at St Colman's College in Newry and was later its president

Finegan, who died in 2002, was accused of a long campaign of child sexual abuse, but was never prosecuted or questioned by police about claims made against him.

In 2018, it emerged that the Diocese of Dromore had settled a claim made by one of his victims.

At that stage, the board of governors at St Colman's condemned the physical, sexual and emotional abuse inflicted by Finegan while working there.

The priest's image was also removed from the school's photographs.

At the time, the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) set up a team of detectives to investigate Finnegan's activities.

Nine people were said to have been interviewed under caution, but no direction was made to prosecute anyone.

In 2021, Tony Gribben received a six-figure sum in damages. and appealed to victims of Malachy Finegan to come forward.