Paedophile ex-priest moves out of Galway

 THE paedophile former priest who lived earlier this year in Barna before moving to Ballybane last month, has now left the city, the Galway City Tribune has learned.

 The now laicised Patrick McCabe (78) left his private apartment off the Monivea Road in the Ballybane area just two weeks ago and is understood to have returned to Dublin.

His move out of Ballybane back to Dublin has been greeted with relief by the local community and by Cllr Terry O’Flaherty, who said that his city location was “not suitable”.

“He was living in an area where there were families with young children and there is just a major sense of relief on learning that he has left the area,” said Cllr O’Flaherty.

McCabe – released from prison for sex offences in the Dublin area earlier this year – had initially moved to the Thornberry Estate in Barna where had lived over the summer period.

However following an expose in The Star newspaper earlier last month, he then moved into a private apartment in the Ballybane area around the middle of October, sparking off concerns among local residents and community representatives.

McCabe was convicted in October, 2012, for a series of indecent assaults on teenage boys in the Dublin area dating back to the 1970s. “Good riddance to him – it’s a relief to all of us that he’s gone,” said Cllr O’Flaherty.

Read more in today’s Galway City Tribune