FATHER IVAN PAYNE AND SISTER CONSILIO

Added to www.alliancesupport.org on January 3, 2007

(BACKGROUND: In November 2002 a mob drove Father Ivan Payne from his apartment after he had been released from prison upon serving a sentence for sex offences against children. The media then claimed that the priest was residing in centre for recovering alcoholics that had been founded by Sister Consilio Fitzgerald of the Sisters of Mercy. There was not a word of truth in the reports.It was an attempt to demonise Sister Consilio as Nora Wall (Sister Dominic of the Sisters of Mercy) and Sister of Charity, Stanislaus Kennedy had been demonised. Once again Irish society was spewing on itself.)

PAYNE FOUND IN NEW CITY CENTRE HIDEAWAY
Sunday Mirror, 17 November 2002 by ALAN CROGHAN

CHILD abuser Ivan Payne is now living in a secret hideaway where he says daily mass to to recovering drink and drug addicts.

The pervert is holed up in the recovering alcoholic's centre Teach Mhuire with another convicted paedophile Fr Jim Doyle just minutes from a nearby school.

Most of the alcoholics are unaware of identity of the two men at the Church-run centre in the heart of Dublin city centre on Gardiner Street.

On Thursday, Payne, 56, who was jailed for sexually assaulting altar boys in north Dublin and at our Lady's Hospital in Crumlin, was smuggled out of his plush home in Clarion Quay after hundreds of angry parents marched on the Church-funded apartment.

Only three weeks ago the priest was released from the Curragh Prison after serving a six-year jail term.

Payne, aided by the prison authorities was whisked away at midnight in order to avoid the press in a bid to preserve his "dignity".

But now Payne has teamed up with Fr Jim Doyle, known as the 'Tank', and the two say mass each day in the centre.

One mother of three young boys, aged three, seven and 12, told the Irish Sunday Mirror: "I just can't believe that he is living right around the corner from me.

"My children go to Marlborough Street school which is practicaly next door to Teach Mhuire and they have to walk past that place every day.

"It sends shivers down my spine to think what those two priests done to innocent little children who never hurt anyone. They're evil - just pure evil." A middle-aged man who runs a B&B near the centre said: "You don't see a lot of Payne, I've seen him a couple of times coming in and out of Teach Mhuire with Fr Jim Doyle.

"There is no way should either of them should be allowed to live around here. If word gets out that Payne and that other pervert Fr Jim Doyle are living on this street it could ruin my business.
"I get a lot of married couples with their children arriving here and I don't think they would stay here if they knew that two child molesters were living on the street."

Fr Jim Doyle was convicted in 1990 for sexually abusing a 12-year- old boy and he has lived in the run-down centre for the past five years.

Sister Concilio Fitzgerald who runs the centre and also heads the Nationwide Cuan Mhuire network knows of the two pervert priests.

The Catholic Church was forced to move Payne from his fully- furnished apartment in Clarion Quay six days ago and is currently at Teach Mhuire and believed to be staying under a false name.

Payne had to move after more than 100 angry residents marched on his apartment chanting: "Paedo, Paedo, Paedo, Out, Out, Out."

Paul Bailey, Child Protection Officer of the Bishops Conference said the Church was "monitoring" Payne.

Although the Archdiocese confirmed it had no idea of what Payne's future role maybe within the Church it also said he is not now in the ministry.

But a Teach Mhuire source told the Irish Sunday Mirror that Payne DOES say mass.
He said: "Payne and Doyle both say mass at midday every day.

" It's not a real church, it's just a room that's decorated with a few crosses on the walls and a desk for a pulpit.
"You don't have to go to mass if you don't want to.
"Not many of the guys in there go to mass, you'd probably get three or four and that would be it."

The Teach Mhuire building has more than 30 single rooms and usually houses recovering alcoholics.

The place is fully-equipped with satalite TV and boasts recreational facilities such as snooker and table tennis tables.

When the Irish Sunday Mirror contacted Teach Mhuire we were told that convicted paedophile Fr Jim Doyle was not around and that he was gone away for the weekend.

Sr Concilio Fitzgerald who heads the nationwide Cuan Mhuire network was not available for comment when we contacted her office in Athy, Co Kildare, yesterday.

Paedophile Fr Jim Doyle who has lived at the Teach Mhuire centre since his release from prison five years ago commands a lot of authority within the establishment and is the main book-keeper there.

Among the residents at the drink addiction centre are juvenile offenders who escape prison terms by agreeing to treatment for their drug problems.

Teach Mhuire is a transition house for alcoholics, drug addicts and people who have problems.


Fr Payne 'Not Housed at City Centre Facility'
Irish Independent, 19 November 2002 by Marese McDonagh

THE ARCHDIOCESE of Dublin yesterday warned of the dangers of driving sex offenders underground after it was reported that Father Ivan Payne was living in a city centre rehabilitation facility run by Sister Consilio.

There was fury following newspaper reports that Father Payne was being accommodated at Teach Mhuire on Gardiner Street which is close to a primary school.

But both the archdiocese and Teach Mhuire stressed last night that Father Payne had never been inside the centre despite reports that he was living there and had been celebrating Mass there.

There are no plans to accommodate him at Teach Mhuire or any of the other Cuan Mhuire centres run by Sister Consilio for recovering alcoholics and drug addicts, the archdiocese stressed.

Payne who was released from prison last month had been living in a luxury apartment not far from Gardiner Street but following local protests he moved out of the Clarion Quay complex and his current whereabouts are unknown.

It is understood that he was not in Dublin at the weekend but there are no plans to move him out of the capital. The archdiocese is certain to face renewed protests once his new address becomes known.

In a statement last night the church authority said that the protection of children was best served by ensuring treatment and monitoring of sex offenders on release from prison. Anything that would push such people underground is widely recognised as a counter-productive strategy.

In a reference to tabloid newspaper reports the statement added: "Such untrue stories, which are entirely without foundation, undermine the safety of children by attempting to effect the complete demonisation and marginalisation of sex offenders."

The statement stressed that Cuan Mhuire was an independent body with no formal or informal links with the Archdiocese of Dublin.

It also emerged last night that Father Payne, who has recently applied to Rome for laicisation, had undergone treatment before going to prison.

Because of reports that he had refused treatment while in prison the Archdiocese pointed out that before beginning his sentence Father Payne had undergone "extensive" treatment.
A spokeswoman said there had never been a question of Father Payne "refusing" to undergo treatment in jail.

There would have been no point in him taking up one of the limited places available given that the treatment he had already undergone went beyond what was available in prison, she added.

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