Smyth's first conviction followed the reporting to police of his abuse of four siblings in Belfast's Falls Road. After his arrest in 1991, he fled to the Republic of Ireland, where he spent the next three years on the run, staying mostly at Kilnacrott Abbey. This led to the collapse of the Fianna Fáil–Labour Party coalition government in December 1994 when the poor handling of an extradition request from the RUC by the Irish Attorney General's office led to a further delay of Smyth's trial. An award-winning UTV Counterpoint programme on the scandal by journalist Chris Moore, followed by a book, accused the head of the Norbertines and the Archbishop of Armagh of mishandling the case, and the Norbertines of negligence and a failure to tell others of Smyth's crimes, enabling Smyth to sexually abuse large numbers of children for 40 years.
