Reviewers of the case differ as to whether there was a deliberate plot to conceal Smyth's behaviour, incompetence by his superiors at Kilnacrott Abbey, or some combination of factors. Cahal Daly, both as Bishop of Down and Connor, a diocese where some of the abuse took place, and later as Cardinal Archbishop of Armagh, is recorded as having been privately furious at the Norbertine "incompetence". Smyth's activities were investigated by the Northern Ireland Historical Institutional Abuse Inquiry, finding that: "..despite knowing his history of abusing children, the Norbertine religious order moved Smyth to different dioceses where he abused more children.."
