THE president of the Catholic League has continued his extraordinary attack on the Oxford Union by calling the event he was due to take part in a 'phoney debate'.

Bill Donohue's invitation to take part in the debate titled "The House Believes The Catholic Church Can Never Pay For Its Sins," on February 28, was cancelled after he apparently 'did not confirm his place'.

Mr Donohue has now said the speakers selected show that the Union is putting on a 'staged debate'.

He branded the Union 'in free fall', after earlier calling its president a 'delinquent'.

Read again: Oxford Union 'lied to me', says Catholic League President

Those chosen include Mitchell Garabedian, a lawyer who represented sexual abuse victims in Boston during the Catholic priest sexual abuse scandal.

Thomas Reilly, an ex-Massachusetts Attorney General who led the investigation into the same scandal, and Elizabeth Coppin, who is now bringing a case against the Irish state to the United Nations committee against Torture, are also on the panel.

They are joined by Marci Hamilton, CEO and academic director at CHILD USA, and Dr Jay R Feierman, a former psychiatric consultant to the clerical sexual offender treatment programme in New Mexico.

The Oxford Union has not yet responded to a request for comment.