The Inquiry was set up by the Government of Ireland to identify complaints and allegations made against clergy of the Diocese of Ferns prior to April 2002, and to report upon the response of Church and Civil Authorities.
[2] The Inquiry recorded its revulsion at the extent, severity and duration of the child sexual abuse allegedly perpetrated on children by priests acting under the aegis of the Diocese of Ferns.
[3] The investigation was established in the wake of the broadcast of a BBC Television documentary Suing the Pope, which highlighted the case of Fr Seán Fortune, one of the most notorious clerical sexual offenders.
[4] O'Gorman, through One in Four, the organisation he founded to support women and men who have experienced sexual violence, successfully campaigned for the Ferns Inquiry.
It identified more than 100 allegations of child sexual abuse made between 1962 and 2002 against twenty-one priests operating under the aegis of the Diocese of Ferns.
Walsh reported the matter to the Metropolitan for the Diocese of Ferns, Desmond Connell, Cardinal Archbishop of Dublin.
[12] Between 1960 and 1980, the Report found that Bishop Herlihy treated child sexual abuse by priests of his diocese exclusively as a moral problem.
As a result of a late application, a further inspection of files from July 2005 revealed a further five cases of concern, which were mentioned in the report's appendix.