In the case of abuse victim Brendan Boland, a key interview subject in the BBC program, the future cardinal's role was that of a “notary or note-taker.” To suggest that he played a larger role in gathering evidence from Boland “is false and misleading,” Cardinal Brady said.
“Acting promptly and with the specific purpose of corroborating the evidence provided by Mr. Boland, thereby strengthening the case against Brendan Smyth, I subsequently interviewed one of the children identified by Mr. Boland who lived in my home diocese of Kilmore,” he recalled.
“That I conducted this interview on my own is already on the public record. This provided prompt corroboration of the evidence given by Mr. Boland.”
Cardinal Brady noted that in 1975, “no State or Church guidelines existed in the Republic of Ireland to assist those responding to an allegation of abuse against a minor.” And even by today's standards, he said, the primary responsibility would not have been his.
“According to the State guidelines in place in the Republic of Ireland today, the person who first receives and records the details of an allegation of child abuse in an organization … is not the person who has responsibility within that organization for reporting the matter to the civil authorities.”
“This responsibility belongs to the ‘Designated Person’ appointed by the organization and trained to assume that role. In 1975, I would not have been the ‘Designated Person’ according to today’s guidelines.”
In his response to the BBC, Cardinal Brady affirmed his support for the Irish Church's current policy of reporting abuse claims to the civil authorities. But he rejected the suggestion that he should resign, and accused the BBC program of seeking to “deliberately exaggerate and misrepresent” his past actions.
“The program suggested that no response to their questions had been provided before the program was completed,” he pointed out. “In fact a comprehensive response had been provided to the program six weeks in advance and only days after the ‘door-stepping’ interview with me in Limerick.”