I received this statement from Cathal Ó Searcaigh today, via Liam Gaskin, his media advisor.

It is with a heavy heart that I have read and listened to the media comment about the documentary “ Fairytale of Kathmandu”. I opened my life and work in Nepal to someone I considered a friend. Someone who had made a film of me and my adopted son and family in Nepal less than a year earlier and who never raised any concerns to me at that time.

I believe the film makers never had any intentions of showing the work I have being doing in Nepal for some 13 years now. I have undertaken projects to provide water, housing, education and business opportunities for the people of Nepal. I have made many friends, both male and female, and I have taken great pleasure in seeing my small efforts change their lives for the better. The well-being of the Nepalese people is of primary concern to me.

If my gay lifestyle and relationships in Nepal has offended anyone, I am sorry. But to suggest that I in any way coerced or preyed upon these young men is untrue and distasteful. My relationships in Nepal have allways been open and loving and above board.

I have considered deeply the opinions put forward by my critics and I can see how my actions could have been misinterpreted. It hurts me to think that I would be seen in this light. However, as my efforts to support and nuture the people of Nepal are more important to me than the privacy of my relationships, I have decided to establish a trust to administer whatever funds I am capable of providing in the future.

The trust will consist of Prem, my adopted son, Sunita his wife and my daughter- in -law, and a Nepalese solicitor and accountant. I will distance myself completely from the distribution of funding for chosen projects. This will allow the work I have started in Nepal to continue, and afford me the privilege of regaining some semblance of a private life.

I would finally like to say that the vast bulk of the money I used to help my friends in Nepal was my own income. Allthough I live there for three months of the year, I support the educational and other projects all year round.

Is teann an taca an trocaire.

Statement of Cathal Ó Searcaigh, 20/02/08.