CHILD sex monster Michael Ferry was a youth club official for Foroige and also taught sex education and religion at Pobalscoil Gaoth Dobhair, it emerged today.
Both positions pre-dated his sickening sex attacks while working as caretaker for Colaiste Cholmcille where he was re-hired as an odds job man after a previous conviction for child sex crimes.
Foroige is understood to be examining files to see if the 55-year-old convicted sex abuser was a volunteer in the 1980s when the club was based in Derrybeg.
Incredibly Colaiste Cholmcille, which runs Irish language summer courses at the building, has also admitted the former school caretaker helped with classes even after being found guilty in 2002 of abusing a child.
Gardai have confirmed they are widening their investigation amid fears of a paedophile ring.
Another alleged victim has come forward in recent days, claiming more than one perpetrator was targeting children in the Gaoth Dobhair area of west Donegal.
Locals said the former Ard Scoil Mhuire building – where school caretaker Ferry raped and abused children for more than a decade – was the base for the Foroige youth club.
Sinn Fein TD Pearse Doherty, who grew up beside the school which is owned and run by Colaiste Cholmcille said there was clearly a cause for concern.
“While I never attended Foroige as I was too young at the time, it’s my understanding that Mickey Ferry was one of the participants and indeed leaders in the Foroige group at the time there,” he said.
Foroige has confirmed it is trawling through records to establish if Ferry was connected to the youth movement.
Donegaldaily.com can confirm he did work there as a volunteer. He also volunteered for the Order of Malta.
As the HSE launch a range of services aimed at helping victims, it has also been revealed that Ferry – who raped five boys at the former Ardscoil Mhuire premises – actually taught in the area’s main secondary school in the mid-1980s.
The former student priest, kicked out of Maynooth because of lewd sex acts, landed a substitute teacher’s job at Pobalscoil Gaoth Dobhair teaching religion and sex education.
One former pupil said: “It makes my skin crawl now; to think he was preaching to us about religion and then a few years later he went on to carry out those attacks on those poor boys. It is sickening.”
Gardai are launching a widespread investigation into claims that Ferry has dozens of other victims.
There is massive support for the four young men who stood up to Ferry, crimes for which he was jailed for 14 years on Monday past.
One of them Derek Mulligan (pictured above) has been singled out for praise for going public on the affair.