John Cooney - New(?) Allegations against Archbishop McQuaid

The General Humbert Summer School which is directed by John Cooney starts tomorrow in Co. Mayo. According to Phoenix magazine, John Cooney is poised to make further "revelations" about John Charles McQuaid. The following is from a discussion on the www.politics.ie website
http://www.politics.ie/current-affairs/135682-holy-father-rejects-resignation-two-dublin-bishops-10.html

Originally Posted by Kilbarry1 View Post
Slight correction. Cooney has already repeated his slander against Archbishop McQuaid at the Daniel Corkery Summer School in July - with (of course) no reaction from Diarmuid Martin. However Phoenix expect him to do so again at his own General Humbert Summer School which starts on 17 August:

http://www.irishsalem.com/individuals/writers-and-journalists/John-Cooney/cooneyvsmcquaid-30july10.php

Last Friday (23rd July 2010), the Daniel Corkery Summer School heard Cooney deliver a thundering peroration of his allegations against McQuaid with what he said is additional evidence and the promise of further revealations to come in his forthcoming book, The Curse Of McQuaid. His book, Cooney claims, 'will provide numerous sordid details of McQuaid's dark secret.'

Cooney's speech last week also referred to what he claimed was further evidence of McQuaid's sexual activity. These, the journalist said, were advances made, not to children but to a young priest and 2 clerical students resulting in 2 Garda investigations into these allegations made in the the 1960's and early '70's. Cooney told his audience that the investigations cleared McQuaid - unsurprisingly, given the period - but he also claimed that the files have gone missing. Cooney also referred to other evidence he says he has unearthed in recent years which provide similar evidence against McQuaid.

Expect more fireworks at Cooney's own summer school, the General Humbert Summer School beginning 17 August.

By the sound of it Cooney's LATEST (?) allegtions against the late Archbishop are not exactly new. They sound very like issues that were treated by Jody Corcoran then political editor of the Sunday Independent in an article dated 7 November 1999.
http://www.irishsalem.com/individuals/writers-and-journalists/John-Cooney/gardainvestigationcleared-07nov99.php

The article begins:

A GARDA investigation into allegations of illegal homosexual acts and paedophilia at two Dublin diocesan colleges more than 20 years ago [i.e. in the 1970s] cleared the late Archbishop John Charles McQuaid of any involvement, the Sunday Independent has learned. The now retired Garda detective inspector who led the investigation said three students were dismissed from the colleges, and while Dr McQuaid was also investigated, no evidence of any wrongdoing on his part was discovered.

In the course of the investigation, the gardaí questioned a gay student priest about an incident in Lourdes which involved Dr McQuaid, but found no evidence of wrongdoing. The incident formed a small part of a more extensive Garda investigation into what were then illegal homosexual acts between two student priests at All Hallows College in Drumcondra, Dublin, and a third student at the nearby Clonliffe College. That investigation had its origins in an anonymous letter to the then head of All Hallows which contained unproven allegations of child sexual abuse against the two All Hallows students.

This sounds very like Cooney's latest allegations as outlined in Phoenix Magazine recently. I note that he says that the investigations cleared McQuaid "unsurprisingly, given the period". Is he claiming a cover up by the Gardai and by the Attorney General's office and if so why is he saying this now? The retired Garda detective inspector who carried out the investigations was 83 when he spoke to the Sunday Independent in 1999.

The 1999 article ended:

Mr Devane prepared a file which was forwarded to his chief superintendent at Whitehall and to the Attorney-General. Charges were never brought. Mr Devane is adamant that no pressure was applied by the Church authorities to drop the charges. ``I recommended that no charges be brought. I thought they had been through enough,'' he said. ``They were thrown out of the college, their parents were involved and, anyway, they would have probably got the Probation Act. There was no point in putting them through all that the publicity and everything.''
Cooney's General Humbert Summer School starts tomorrow so perhaps all will be revealed then!