The Catholic Archbishop of Dublin, Diarmuid Martin, has decided to stop sending trainee priests from the diocese to the Irish national seminary because of what he calls "strange goings-on" there, amid reports of a "gay sub-culture".
Instead of sending the would-be priests to St Patrick's College in Maynooth, in north County Kildare, Archbishop Martin will dispatch them to the Irish College in Rome. This process will begin with three seminarians going to Rome next autumn.
The move comes after claims in the Irish press of rumours that some of the 60 resident seminarians at Maynooth have been using the homosexual dating app 'Grindr'.
Martin told The Irish Times: "I wasn't happy with Maynooth...There seems to be an atmosphere of strange goings-on there, it seems like a quarrelsome place with anonymous letters being sent around. I don't think this is a good place for students". He added: "However, when I informed the president of Maynooth of my decision, I did add 'at least for the moment'."
The anonymous letters were reportedly circulated in clerical circles about the use of the dating app.
However, The Tablet reported that Martin had made the decision "some months ago" and informed the other bishops of his intention at the summer general meeting of the Irish hierarchy in June.
Martin did not comment on the rumours, merely adding that he himself had a "certain bonding" with Rome and that he felt the Irish Pontifical college there provided "a good grounding" in the Catholic faith.
Martin spent 25 years at the Holy See in Rome, mainly at the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace before being appointed Archbishop of Dublin in 2004.
The rector of the Irish college, Monsignor Ciaran O'Carroll confirmed that the three Dublin seminarians would be "transferring" to Rome.
