A Nepalese charity counselling a teenage boy who claims he had sex with Donegal poet Cathal Ó Searcaigh says he wants to make a formal statement to gardaí in Ireland.

Voice of Children, which works with children in Nepal, is making enquiries about how best to proceed as the teenager wishes to make a statement about his experiences with the poet. "I will be trying to get in touch with the authorities in Ireland and non-government organisations (NGOs) to see what we should do next. This teenager wants to make a statement and I am gathering information at the moment about the legal provisions of doing so. He is prepared to come to Ireland to do this but we do not know if this is possible or necessary yet," Krishna Thapa, director of Voice of Children, told the Sunday Tribune.

He said the teenager alleges he had sex with Ó Searcaigh on a few occasions.

Following therapy since the alleged sexual encounters with the poet, Thapa said the teenager was now in an emotional position to proceed with making a formal complaint in Ireland.

He added that in Nepal a complaint of this nature must be made "within 25 days" so that was why it was being pursued here. "I meet him frequently. He said he was called to Cathal's hotel room and was asked to take off his clothes. He said Cathal promised to help him with his studies. He felt confused when it happened.

He said Cathal told him it 'was the normal thing to do to become a man'. He said he had sex with him and it happened a few separate times," he said.

"When I met him first, he was totally confused. He felt guilty and responsible for what had happened to him. Now he feels angry and sometimes becomes aggressive. He wants to make a statement to the authorities about what happened."

Ó Searcaigh became mired in controversy and the focus of a garda investigation after a documentary, Fairytale of Kathmandu by filmmaker Neasa Ní Chianáin, portraying his sexual relationships with young men in Nepal was aired on RTÉ last year.

The documentary did not allege that any of the teenagers
Ó Searcaigh had sex with were under 16 – the age of consent in Nepal – but expressed concern at the power disparity in the poet's relationships with teenagers because of his relative wealth and status as a westerner.

Ó Searcaigh was unavailable for comment.