THE Provincial of the Jesuits in Ireland said this week that it was a “source of deep shame” that his order had failed to take action against a priest and teacher, now dead, who was the subject of 93 complaints of sexual, physical, and emotional abuse.

The Society of Jesus released a narrative report, Fr Joseph Marmion SJ: His abuse, the harm caused, and Jesuit accountability, earlier this month. It documents the complaints, from the 1940s and subsequent decades. Fr Marmion died in 2000.

The report sets out how the order responded to the allegations. It also names, for the first time, two other priests who were also the subject of numerous complaints of child sexual abuse, and who continued to work with children.

Of the 93 complaints against Fr Marmion, 65 relate to his time teaching at Belvedere College, Dublin; 14 to Crescent College, Limerick; and 14 to Clongowes Wood College, Co. Kildare. Half were allegations of child sexual abuse.

The Provincial, Fr Shane Daly, said that it was a “source of deep shame” to discover that, when the allegations of abuse were first reported, the order had placed “the reputation of the order and the person accused” above the well-being of the complainants. “As was said before, things were done that should never have been done, and things that should have been done were not.”

Fr Marmion’s former pupils had been “horrifically abused”, he said. He paid tribute to them for their “courage and generosity” in coming forward. A redress scheme by the three Jesuit colleges concerned was announced in 2022.

The two other priests named are Fr Paul Andrews and Fr Dermot Casey, both directors of St Declan’s Special School and Child Guidance Centre in Dublin. Fr Casey died in 1997 and Fr Andrews in 2018.