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# Clerical Abuse
Priest dismissed over complaints of child sexual abuse
A number of complaints of sexual abuse of minors against the priest have been upheld by a canonical penal trial today.
A PRIEST IN a Cork diocese has been dismissed over allegations of child sexual abuse.
The Diocese of Cloyne said today that a number of complaints of sexual abuse of minors against one of its priests have been upheld by a canonical penal trial today.
It said that the priest has now been dismissed from the clerical state.
In 2011, the government published the final passages of the damning Cloyne report into the handling of clerical abuse allegations in the diocese. It is understood that the priest dismissed today was the ‘Fr Ronat’ referred to in the report which detailed 11 different complaints against the man of abuse that occurred between 1989 and 2009.
Although restrictions were placed on Fr Ronat’s duties in the wake of some of the complaints, he continued to officiate at Confirmation ceremonies in the early part of the last decade.
An official representative of the diocese made contact today with the complainants, who took part in the trial, to inform them of the verdict.
The diocese said it will now “continue to offer counselling and pastoral support to all who have been abused”, and expressed “deep regret at the suffering that has been caused”.
Read: Government publishes final sections of damning Cloyne report>
Read: Vatican’s response to Cloyne ‘will be published imminently’ – report>
