Belfast , Northern Ireland ( CNN ) -- An Irish priest at the center of a gay porn controversy has asked to leave his parish and take sabbatical leave from the priesthood , he said Sunday . The Catholic Church in Ireland had launched an investigation after reports Father Martin McVeigh accidentally showed pictures of naked men to parents of children preparing for their First Holy Communion . The incident happened at the start of a PowerPoint presentation at a grade school in Pomeroy , County Tyrone , Northern Ireland in March , said the leader of the Catholic Church in Ireland , Cardinal Sean Brady . Parents said in a statement they were `` horrified '' by what they saw and called for action to be taken against the priest . The church reported the incident to police , who said no crime had been committed . In a statement Sunday , McVeigh apologized `` for the hurt caused '' and `` his failure to check his presentation in advance . '' However , he insisted he `` was not responsible for the presence of the offending images and in this respect I ask you to accept my innocence . '' The priest also confirmed he had destroyed the memory stick that contained the images . He said : `` After the images were inadvertently shown , I immediately removed the memory stick from the laptop . In my shock and upset and in my concern to ensure that the images would never be shown again , I destroyed it later that evening . '' McVeigh described the past month as `` the most difficult '' of his life and said he would be taking a break . `` In the hope of bringing resolution and healing to the division and pain within the parish , I have taken the decision to ask Cardinal Brady to allow me to leave the parish of Pomeroy and to take sabbatical leave , '' said McVeigh , adding : `` The memory of this awful episode will remain with me for the rest of my life . '' Brady said he accepted McVeigh had no advance knowledge of the pornography . In a statement Sunday , Brady said it had been `` a traumatic time for the whole parish community and for Father McVeigh personally . '' The cardinal also apologized for the incident . He issued an update on the church investigation , saying other computers used by McVeigh had been `` forensically examined by an independent technical expert and no inappropriate imagery has been found . '' Brady added an additional laptop stolen from the local church sacristy since the March 26 meeting `` did not form part of the technical examination . '' The cardinal said he had accepted McVeigh 's request for leave on the understanding he would return to the diocese on its completion . The latest controversy comes after a series of child sex abuse scandals involving Catholic Church clergy in Ireland . The government-backed investigations say thousands of children have been abused by priests and other church figures over the last 80 years . In March , the Vatican released a major report into the problem , begging forgiveness from victims . However , victims hit out at the report 's finding that new safeguards are working .
Father Martin McVeigh says he showed `` offending imagery '' to parents . Parents said they were `` horrified '' and demanded action against him . He will take a sabbatical leave before returning to another parish . Score: 6