Ex-Christian Brothers' names published after court order

The names of over 300 former Christian Brothers have been published in a national paper, following an order from the High Court.

Last week, the High Court ordered that 341 former members of the congregation be served with a summons by way of a national newspaper advertisement, as part of a claim for damages for child sexual assault and rape, although it is not being alleged that the men whose names have been published had anything to do with the crimes.

The High Court hopes they will now come forward in relation to a case in which a man is seeking damages for the sexual and physical abuse he suffered at the hands of Liam Coughlan, a former Christian Brother, at CBS primary school on Stephen Street in Kilkenny in the 1970s.

Liam Coughlan of Pine Grove, Tramore, Co Waterford was jailed in 2023 for sexually assaulting numerous boys at the school during the 1970s, including the man at the centre of the case.

The decision by Judge Mary Rose Gearty to publish the summons was as a result of the congregation's decision not to provide a nominee for the purposes of litigation in the case.

As an unincorporated body, the Christian Brothers cannot be sued if it does not provide a 'nominee’.

In circumstances where no member of an unincorporated body puts themself forward to represent a body as a whole in litigation, all of the relevant members may be pursued.

Philip Treacy, of Coleman Legal, who is representing the claimant, described the publication as a significant, unprecedented and a necessary step in circumstances where no member of the Christian Brothers organisation has confirmed that it will represent the congregation.

"The big difficulty is in particular with those that are no longer members, there's very little information as to their whereabouts. So the reason why the judge has made this decision is because they said (Christian Brothers) they have little to no information and certainly they don't have the addresses that will enable us to find these former members and serve them with proceedings."

Speaking on Morning Ireland, Mr Treacy described the handling of the situation by the Christian Brothers as shocking, appalling, totally unnecessary and completely avoidable.

"It does nothing other than to add significant time and cost to very brave people who, after suffering childhood sexual abuse 40, 50 years ago, and after all this time, are met with this strategy. To me, it is totally unnecessary," he said.

He pointed out that there was nothing in law preventing any member of an unincorporated body when faced with litigation from acting as nominee.

He said they were "still perfectly entitled to fully defend the case" and that it was "in no way prejudicial".

Mr Treacy said that instead the matter was taking up a huge amount of the court's time, which is taxpayers' money, which in his view was "totally unnecessary" and "an un-Christian thing to do".

The congregation has been contacted by RTÉ News for a response.