VICTIMS of Brendan Smyth are to take legal action against gardaí for failing to stop the paedophile priest despite being alerted to his activities in the early 1970s.
The development came as Cardinal Seán Brady told an inquiry that investigations into child sex abuse took place under a "shroud of secrecy" to save the Church from scandal.
Solicitor Kevin Winters said civil proceedings had been launched in the Republic because of the "appalling failure" to stop Smyth.
Among those taking action is a woman in her 30s who was groomed by Smyth in 1993 after he fled across the border while on the run from the RUC.
Last night she called for Dr Brady to be "held accountable" following his evidence to the Historical Institutional Abuse (HIA) inquiry in Banbridge, Co Down.
She said the cardinal, who resigned last year as head of the Catholic Church in Ireland on age grounds, should have acted after he became aware of allegations against Smyth in 1975.
"Why has he not been arrested? Why has he not been questioned?" she said. "He put children in danger."
She added: "If he felt he had failed and that the Church had failed the children, he should have stepped down."
Cardinal Brady has defended his actions as a priest at the time, insisting he did not have the power to stop Smyth.
The inquiry heard the former Archbishop of Armagh describe Smyth's activities as "unspeakable crimes".
"There was a shroud of secrecy and confidentiality with a view not to destroying the good name of the Church," he said.
"The scandal that somebody who was ordained to serve people should so abuse the trust for their own pleasure was appalling and it was.
"To offset that, the scandal was kept a secret - very, very secret," he said.
