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Five men who claim they were abused by Fr Malachy Finegan when they were pupils at St Colman's College in Newry have received over £1.2m in compensation.
Phoenix Law who represented the five made a claim against the Diocese of Dromore and the Board of Governors at St Colman's for abuse both sexual and physical by the priest at the college between roughly 1972 and 1984. The settlements were reached at the doors of the court without any admission of liability by either party.
Claire McKeegan from Phoenix Law said "Our clients have endured a lifetime of pain and suffering at the hands of Malachy Finegan and other staff members at St Colmans who exploited their positions of power and trust to inflict abuse of the utmost depravity."
While commending the bravery and resilience shown by the survivors McKeegan said that the protracted legal process itself added to their trauma. "Delay tactics and eleventh-hour adjournments brought by the Church and College served only to inflict further distress on our survivor clients and obstruct them from accessing justice."
A survivor added "I would ask Archbishop Martin to reflect on his treatment of survivors through his legal tactics which have been appalling on every level and as far from the compassionate Christ he claims to represent as East is from West."
"We have repeatedly set out our call for a statutory Inquiry into clerical abuse in NI. These predators were able to gorge themselves on us young children under the cover of the cloth. Lack of truth leaves an open wound. We want to see priests called to answer their actions and omissions."
Archbishop Eamon Martin is to write written apologies to the five survivors, who can't be named for legal reasons.
Fr Finegan who died in 2002 was never prosecuted or questioned by police in relation to claims of abuse.
