THE funeral of controversial bishop Eamonn Casey is due to take place in Galwayon Thursday.
The former Bishop of Galway (89) died in a nursing home in Co Clare on Monday following a long illness.
He gained notoriety in 1992 after it was revealed he had secretly fathered a son named Peter with US divorcee Annie Murphy.
His remains will be taken to the Cathedral of Our Lady Assumed into Heaven and Saint Nicholas, Galway on Wednesday evening with Requiem Mass to be held the following day at 2pm. He will later be buried in the cathedral crypt.
Originally from Co Kerry, Bishop Casey was ordained a priest in 1951. He went on to be appointed Bishop of Kerry in 1969 before taking on the larger and more high profile diocese of Galway and Kilmacduagh in 1976.
He hit the headlines in 1992 when it emerged he had an affair with divorcee Ms Murphy when she had left the US to stay in Ireland following the breakdown of her marriage.
It also emerged he had been making undisclosed payments to the US for years, including from diocesan funds.
The cleric left Ireland after the scandal broke and became a missionary in South America, working in a rural parish in Ecuador.
He later worked in the parish of St Paul's in West Sussex in England and returned to Ireland in 2006.
