A court has heard that an "extremely anti-clerical" social worker investigating alleged sexual abuse at a Galway school was eventually taken off the case by the former Western Health Board.
Superintendent Jim Sugrue, now retired, told Dublin Circuit Criminal Court that the social worker, Mr Gerry Flanagan, had worked in the school in the late seventies as a "house parent" but had left "under a cloud".
He said he believed Mr Flanagan had a "fixation" with the school and was "extremely anti-clerical" as demonstrated by two letters he wrote to the Irish Press newspaper concerning clerical abuse.
Mr Sugrue was giving evidence after Judge Tony Hunt took what he called an "unusual step" in calling him as "a witness for the court" after it emerged he had written to the Director of Public Prosecutions in November 1995 outlining his concern that witnesses were being "coached" before they made their statements.
Judge Hunt said he did this "in the interests of justice" and questioned Mr Sugrue about the letter in which he stated that Mr Flanagan left the area after ceasing to work in the school and became a social worker with the former Western Health Board.
He said he began visiting the school again in 1982 but was soon barred from it by school management.
Mr Sugrue said that Mr Flanagan investigated abuse at the school on behalf of the Health Board and that Mr Flanagan and another social worker, Mr Paddy Gannon, "trawled" the country for complainants and were successful in finding several.
He said Mr Flanagan came to his office in November 1994 to report the abuse at the school. He told him there were five assailants and twelve victims and that there had been buggery "on a large scale".
Mr Sugrue said Mr Flanagan refused to name any of the complainants but Mr Sugrue said he believed "there was nothing sinister about it" and that this was for confidentiality reasons.
After this meeting, gardaí took 31 statements from former pupils and none mentioned "buggery or serious sexual abuse". When Mr Sugrue put this to Mr Flanagan, he claimed he had never made the buggery comment.
Mr Sugrue said the former pupils did allege instances of "fondling" and two attempted instances of oral sex "which were serious in themselves", but they did not mention penetrative sex.
Mr Sugrue said he told the DPP he was aware that Mr Flanagan and another social worker, Mr Jim Mansfield, had counselling sessions with all of the complainants before they made their garda statements. He said on two occasions witnesses came to gardaí with prepared statements after meeting with the men.
Mr Sugrue said he warned Mr Flanagan that it was a police investigation and that witnesses should come forward voluntarily. He said he was very concerned that witnesses were being coached and told Mr Flanagan this several times.
He said that in another letter to the DPP he was concerned about "false memory syndrome", a theory that adults could mistakenly remember instances of child sex abuse in their past.
"The power of suggestion cannot be overlooked", he stated in the letter.
Mr Sugrue said Mr Flanagan had been taken off the case by the Health Board in 1995 but had continued to write him letters asking why the investigation was taking so long. This caused Mr Sugrue to reply that Mr Flanagan had no more function in the investigation and his enquiries were "impertinent".
It was day nine in the trial of the 72-year-old accused who has pleaded not guilty to 35 counts of indecently assaulting six boys between 1967 and 1973 when they were residents at the school.
Detective Garda Patrick Heskin told defence counsel, Mr Hugh Hartnett SC, that one of the complainants (not related to the charges in this case ) had alleged that during his three years at the school he was abused by three Brothers including the accused.
However it was proven that one of the Brothers named did not exist and the other was not at the school at the same time as the accused. It was also discovered that no one matching the complainant's details had ever attended the school.
Det Gda Heskin said he believed the accusations emanated from the complainant attending a meeting of abuse victims where they talked about their experiences. He said he made the allegations in a letter to gardaí "which may have been written on his behalf before he signed it".
Prosecution evidence has concluded and the trial will continue next week before Judge Tony Hunt and a jury of five men and five women.
