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JOHN COONEY AND JOHN CHARLES MCQUAID (4) - Cooney vs Vincent Browne

(also VINCENT Browne!)

To: Alliance Support

The following article from the Sunday World shows that John Cooney, who has no hesitation in making unsubstantiated allegations of child abuse, is very sensitive about his OWN reputation. RTE had to remove a recording of a Vincent Browne radio programme from its website because Browne was sceptical about Cooney's paedophilia claims.

ALSO in Vincent Browne's Village Magazine on 22 June, John Cooney is reported as furiously denouncing Dermot Keogh, Professor of History in University College Cork. Dermot Keogh wrote that John Cooney's "use of the Noel Browne source ... is wholly unconvincing by the professional canons of a journalist, an historian or a jurist" and "showed lamentable judgement in the use of both "evidence" and "archives"". He added that he had "never seen any documentary evidence, nor heard so much as a whisper, that would cast a negative light on Archbishop McQuaid's relationship with boys in his charge as an educator or as a prelate".

John Cooney responded angrily. He claimed that Dermot Keogh's comments on the misuse of historical material were "without foundation because he has not read most of (the material)." He said that he accused Dermot Keogh of "low academic practise in reviewing the book in a number of publications on his ill-founded basis of malice and jealousy." He said his biography is" based on six years of research".

In fact Dermot Keogh is not alone. I DO NOT KNOW OF A SINGLE REPUTABLE HISTORIAN OR JOURNALIST WHO BELIEVES COONEY'S ALLEGATIONS. In fact you can remove the word "reputable" and the statement would still be true. Even people who share Cooney's hatred of the Catholic Church regret that his false allegations can only generate sympathy for the late Archbishop McQuaid!

Rory Connor
29 June 2006

BROWNE GAFFE EDITED - Sunday World 25 June 2006

RTE has removed from its website the last Wednesday night edition of the the Vincent Browne radio programme following a complaint.

The prominent journalist and author John Cooney had complained to the station that he was defamed by comments made by Browne on the "Tonight with Vincent Browne" show and demanded an apology.

Browne's comments were made during a discussion on the proceedings of the Child Abuse Commission last Monday.

The Commission heard that Cooney, in his biography of the late Archbishop John Charles McQuaid, had stated the churchman had been involved in "hushing up" a child abuse scandal at Artane industrial school.

It was during a discussion of the controversy that Browne made the remarks to which Cooney took exception. An RTE spokesman said they would have to get legal advise.

 

Phoenix Magazine 30 June 2006

Religious Affairs correspondent and author John Cooney is girding his loins for a serious spat with Vincent Browne whose late-life rapprochement with God (and Squire Hockey) has seen him launch attacks on Cooney's liberal critique of Mother Church.

When Cooney was traduced at the Child Abuse Commission by solicitor for the Christian Brothers Padraig Lankford, the solicitor was forced to apologise "unreservedly and without qualification" for the offending remarks which were then struck from the record by chairman Judge Sean Ryan. Lankford's remarks followed a reference to Cooney's allegations against the late Archbishop John Charles McQuaid contained in his book "John Charles McQuaid: Ruler of Catholic Ireland".

On the "Tonight with Vincent Browne" programme the following night, Browne paraphrased Lankford in a manner that came close to verbatim repetition of the solicitor's comment on Cooney. When the journalist heard these remarks , he called RTE to complain and the passage was deleted from RTE's website audio record of the programme.

However by then Vincent's "Village Idiot" had hit the streets, with another assault on Cooney's dissection of McQuaid (Cooney alleges in his book that the Archbishop had an "unhealthy interest" in boys and that he may have attempted to abuse two of them). Even worse was the magazine's repetition of the actual remarks made by Lankford at the Commission hearing that he had been forced to withdraw. The article also contained other unflattering references to Cooney.

Statements made at the Child Abuse Commission enjoy "qualified privilege" and this may or may not protect Browne from his RTE utterances and the "Idiot" article. HOWEVER THE COMBATIVE COONEY HAS SOUGHT LEGAL ADVICE AND IS PREPARING FOR LITIGIOUS AND RELIGIOUS COMBAT WITH BROWNE ON BOTH FRONTS.