The former CEO of the National Board for Safeguarding Children in the Irish Catholic Church has described the former Bishop of Galway Eamonn Casey as "a sexual predator".
Ian Elliott makes the comments in an RTÉ documentary in association with the Irish Mail on Sunday newspaper.
The programme examines the Catholic Church's handling of allegations against Bishop Casey, who died in 2017.
Bishop Casey's Buried Secrets includes an interview with one of the former Bishop's accusers, his niece Patricia Donovan, who claims that Casey first raped her at the age of five and that the sexual abuse continued for years.
Mr Elliot, who has direct knowledge of Ms Donovan's complaint against Casey, told the investigation that he found her account of what she experienced "entirely credible".
Read: Casey removed from public ministry in 2007 following allegations
Speaking for the first time on camera, Ms O'Donovan said: "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..."
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.
Bishop Casey's Buried Secrets also reveals how the Limerick Diocese paid over €100,000 in settlement to one of Bishop Casey’s accusers after Casey’s death.
The current Bishop of Limerick, Dr Brendan Leahy, who has access to documents relating to complaints made in his diocese expressed deep deep sorrow and regret to anyone wounded by clerical abuse.
".. including the people referred to in this documentary. They deserve our respect, belief and support. Without commenting on any specific allegation, I have no reason to disbelieve any of the allegations made."
The investigation has also confirmed that Bishop Casey was formally removed from public ministry in 2007 by the Vatican, following "allegations" which, RTÉ established, included his niece's complaint of child sexual abuse. That restriction continued for the last ten years of his but life but was never publicly disclosed in Bishop Casey’s lifetime.
Despite his resignation as Bishop of Galway in 1992, he remained a Bishop until his death in 2017 and claimed his removal from ministry was unjust.
The documentary also hears from friends, colleagues and supporters, who still find it hard to believe the allegations made against him.
However, the Vatican has declined to say what investigative process was followed or whether the sanctions it imposed on Bishop Casey were punitive or precautionary.
Bishop Casey's Buried Secrets will be broadcast tonight at 9.35pm on RTÉ One and will be available worldwide on the RTÉ Player.
