July 4, 2011
Minister for Justice Alan Shatter has finally indicated that the Report into the Diocese of Cloyne may be published next week. We cannot be sure about this as we only learned about it along with the rest of the population during the course of a radio interview with the Minister yesterday. Survivors have been waiting anxiously for it to appear since it was submitted to the previous Minister in December last year. The Report was delayed because one of the priests who were investigated is currently facing criminal charges. Instructions by the High Court to redact the chapter relating to him led, we understand, to legal wrangles and the issue has dragged on and on.
I wonder sometimes how politicians and officials view Reports like this. On the one hand, such Reports provide an invaluable insight into mistakes and wrongdoings, in this case by a Catholic Diocese. They allow public scrutiny of events and inform official policy. On the other hand, such reports can only be compiled with the cooperation of victims whose lives were devastated by the events they describe, and who need and deserve every sensitivity and support when the Reports are published. Agencies like One in Four have to put plans in place to deal with the inevitable rise in demand for our services. However, the Dublin report was published the week before Christmas 2009 and Cloyne is now going to finally emerge in mid-July, just at the time when staff have well-deserved holidays booked. We will manage just as we always do, because staff will over stretch themselves again to make sure every request for help is answered. But when publication dates are decided, is any real thought given to the impact on survivors and the provision of services for them?
Maeve Lewis
July 4th, 2011
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June 20, 2011
A statement today by the Data Protection Commissioner’s office has refuted claims by the Irish Conference of Bishops that data protection legislation has impeded its ability to cooperate with an audit of child protection practices by its own watchdog, the National Board for safeguarding Children. The spokesperson said that there were “no obstacles to the Board having full access to all relevant personal data for the purpose of comprehensive audits of Church bodies”. The office has also said that all legal issues were resolved in February 2010.
So what are we to make of the statement by the Bishops’ Conference last week that data protection concerns were genuine and it was that, rather than reluctance on the part of the Bishops that prevented twenty three of the twenty six dioceses from cooperating with the NBSC audit? It is unusual that the Data Protection Commissioner would make a public statement refuting the Bishop’s stance. What does this mean? Were the bishops and their lawyers confused? Or is this yet another instance of heel-dragging by the Catholic Church?
Maeve Lewis
June 20th, 2011
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May 30, 2011
We are very disappointed that so far the Garda investigation into the Ryan Report has not led to any prosecutions. Eleven files have been sent to the Director of Public Prosecutions and he has directed that eight of those cases should not proceed to trial. Three decisions are pending. This highlights the difficulties associated with investigating and prosecuting allegations of child sexual abuse that happened some time in the past. Very often there is no corroborating evidence, potential witnesses are dead and even the dates when the offences took place are not clear. Two factors mitigate against a successful conviction in historic abuse: the very high level of proof necessary to prove “beyond reasonable doubt” that a person is guilty, and the principle that the right to a fair trial supersedes all other concerns in a criminal process.
Survivors of the institutions will be devastated that nobody will answer for the suffering they endured. And there will be sex offenders in our communities who are at liberty to offend again. We must look at the ways that criminal investigations into sexual crimes are conducted and presented in court to ensure that the very best possible case is put before a jury. And we must find ways to help children who are currently being abused to disclose their experiences immediately rather than wait twenty or thirty years until they are grown up and find it safe to tell, when it is perhaps too late for justice.
Maeve Lewis
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May 24, 2011
One in Four has been inundated with calls today following the Prime Time Special Report on clerical sexual abuse in Africa. The programme has provoked a huge reaction from Irish people and from Africans living in Ireland. It has touched a nerve to realise that some of the most vulnerable children in the world are being exploited by those who pretend to help them.
Executive Director Maeve Lewis says “The Prime Time programme last night was sickeningly recognisable and told the same story that we are so familiar with in Ireland: vulnerable children being targeted and abused by priests and brothers while the Catholic authorities deny the abuse and protect the sex offenders. Missionaries and aid workers occupy powerful positions in the developing world by virtue of their control over the distribution of resources. Any abuse of that position is deeply wrong, but using it to groom desperately poor children is utterly evil. And it is deeply troubling that this abuse is happening right now in societies where there are few resources to protect children or prosecute their abusers”
“We welcome the statement by Minister for Justice Alan Shatter that he has referred the matter to the Garda Commissioner and to the HSEchild protection services. However, we know from our experience in Ireland that we will only learn the full truth about clerical sexual abuse if there is an independent Inquiry with the power to compel witnesses and records. We call on Mr. Shatter to extend the terms of reference of the Murphy Commission to the missionary orders. We also call on the Irish Missionary Union to ensure that rigorous child protection guidelines and training be put in place in their member congregations in the developing world.”
“We have a proud history and magnificent record of missionary and development work overseas. But this comes with a duty of care to the countries where we work. We need to act now.”
ENDS
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May 24, 2011
The Prime Time programme last night on the sexual abuse of children in Africa had a sickening familiarity. The stories of vulnerable children being groomed by predator priests, the lives destroyed, the cover-ups, the transfer of sex offenders to other jurisdictions match the accounts of survivors of clerical abuse in Irelandand across the world. Except that the children were even poorer and more defenceless than their counterparts in the West.
The response of the Church authorities has been depressingly predictable. Despite all the promises of accountability and transparency, it is clear that protection of the sex offender priests and the reputation of the Church is still the priority. Having worked in Rwanda and Sierra Leone I know at first hand the wonderful work done by Irish missionaries across Africa, and the failure of the Church authorities to respond adequately to this scandal tarnishes them all. Events in Ireland have shown us that we will never hear the full truth about clerical sexual abuse without a fully independent Inquiry with the power to compel witnesses. We now need such an Inquiry into the activities of our missionaries overseas.
Maeve Lewis
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