In a major exclusive interview in the new Hot Press, out tomorrow, Dublin-born Michael Hawkes speaks to Jason O'Toole about the horrors he endured at the hands of his adoptive uncle, Monsignor Benjamin Hawkes, one of the most powerful Catholic clergymen in America.

He also talks for the first time about the role that Archbishop John Charles McQuaid – one of the best known clerics in Irish history – played in his adoption, against the Catholic Church’s own rules, by an American couple.

But this was not just any American couple. Michael Hawkes’ adoptive father was in fact an older brother of Monsignor Benjamin Hawkes, raising the possibility that McQuaid – who has himself been accused of paedophilia – was aware of the implications of sending the hand-picked Irish toddler off into Hawkes’ sordid orbit in Los Angeles.

Monsignor Benjamin Hawkes is said to have been the model for the character played by Robert de Niro in the film True Confessions.

In this powerful and shocking interview, Michael Hawkes tells the story of his unmarried mother, her relationship with a musician and how he and his sister were adopted on the explicit say-so of Archbishop McQuaid – captured in letters Hawkes has been able to locate.

In the interview, Michael Hawkes demands an apology from the Irish government because he claims his adoption was a form of human trafficking.

“Not only would I like that, I’d like them to acknowledge what they were doing," he states. "It was human trafficking – that’s supposed to be illegal in every country.

“I’d like to know exactly what involvement (Eamon) de Valera and his son had in the transportation of the children across the seas for money," he adds.

Michael Hawkes (right) with his adoptive father (left)

Niall Stokes, editor of Hot Press, has described reading the letters that led up to the adoption of Michael Hawkes as "deeply disturbing, especially when you put the story they tell alongside Michael Hawkes' account of what happened to him at the hands of Monsignor Hawkes."

"It is absolutely clear that the rules were bent any way that suited the clergy and the Catholic Church," he continues. "And when you put the pieces of the jigsaw together, you’re left with very serious questions to which – as yet – we don’t have answers. But it is self-evident that Michael Hawkes was put directly in harm’s way by the nuns who ran the orphanage and facilitated what may well have been a completely illegal adoption. And that they did this at the behest of Archbishop John Charles McQuaid."

Michael Hawkes is now taking legal action against the archdiocese of Los Angeles, who have so far forked out $1.5 billion to victims – which is the highest amount for any diocese in the world, according to a recent report in the Los Angeles Times.

“The bottom line is to clarify what hell the Catholic Church put people through," Michael Hawkes says in the interview. "No money would compensate for what these evil people did for someone’s first 15 or 20 years of life.”

Also in this six-page feature, Michael Hawkes discusses why he was given up for adoption by his unmarried mother, and how he faced many difficulties in tracing information about his late biological parents on a trip to Ireland. He also reveals his surprise at discovering he had an older brother on his parental side who was still alive, explains why he was afraid to take legal action against the Irish State, and more.

The full interview is available to read in the new dual-cover special issue of Hot Press: