Did you know that our government made a deal with the religious orders to cover their costs in the Residential Institutions Redress Board? Of course you did: I told you HERE.
And did you know that the corresponding cost to the tax-payer of child-abuse by religious orders is currently in excess of one thousand two hundred million euros? Of course you did.
And did you know that the religious orders will never hand out a penny more than the €128 million they agreed in a confidential deal with our government, no matter how high the final settlements go? A deal agreed in secret with one of Bertie Ahern’s former employers by his minister, Michael Woods, at a meeting from which the attorney general was excluded.
€2 billion.
€3 billion.
€4 billion Who cares?
It doesn’t matter to the priests and the brothers who carried out the rapes. You’re going to cover their bill whether you like it or not, and they can continue selling off their extensive lands to property developers at a handsome profit, thanks to you. Let’s have a big hand for YOU, you generous old tax-payer, you.
At the time, we were told that the rationale for covering a single cent of this money was this: the State put the children into the hands of these monsters, and therefore shared responsibility for the abuse.
Well, today this has been shown up as a lie, a fraud and an assault on our democracy by the most corrupt government this country has ever known.
Today, you see, marked the release of the McCoy report on the sexual abuse of disabled children over a period of thirty years by the Brothers of Charity in Galway. Publication of the report, which details physical violence, beatings, floggings, anal rape and torture of children with Down syndrome, autism and a range of other conditions, was delayed for eight years by the religious order whose activities it exposes. Flogging children with Down syndrome! Even I’m boggled by this, cynical and hardened though I am. Floggings!
Furthermore, when the public started to grow angry, these Brothers of Charity hired people to train their staff in child abuse. But when these people started to ask hard questions, they were sacked. Not only that: any staff members willing to co-operate with investigations were quickly got rid of.
Now. To the report.
One of the astounding aspects of the whole thing is that the Brothers of Charity were given a say in the terms of reference of the original inquiry. Can you believe that? I don’t know about you, but it seems to me that in a properly-functioning society, the police would not be consulting suspected child-rapists. It seems to me that they’d be breaking their doors down and tear-gassing anyone who tried to stop them, but not apparently in Ireland. What does that say about our police?
What’s more, only thirty victims were interviewed: over a hundred others have claimed to the Redress Board.
I wasn’t going to say anything about the actual report, but having read it, what strikes me hardest is how intellectually weak it is. This was clearly written by a committee most comfortable in a world of clichés and social-worker-speak. Thus, abused children are service users.
There’s also a very worrying acceptance of the sort of cant that absolves religious leaders from responsibilities. Read this and see what you think:
In common with the general population there was a lack of awareness amongst staff of the issue of sexual abuse until the topic gained media attention in the late 1980s. When it became apparent that some service users had been sexual abused, staff were genuinely shocked.
That statement contains a lot of assumptions. When I and my friends went to a Christian Brothers school at the age of seven, we all knew about those being abused and so did everyone else. What’s this lack of awareness among the general population all about? Anyone who tells you they didn’t know is a liar, and that gives me serious cause for concern about this report.
Does anyone remember kindly old Cardinal Cahal Daly 
absolving himself of responsibility for that evil bastard Brendan Smyth by claiming the bishops didn’t understand sexual abuse? Just like they knew nothing about heterosexual relationships, which is why they never said a word about divorce or contraception, right?
The report was clearly written by a committee of lightweights who had no idea how to get to the point, and who were more concerned about the presentation than the substance. Likewise, to judge by the sloppily-written text, nobody seems to have cared if the report was readable.
The uncritical tone starts early. According to the report:
It is clear from the records reviewed that both former and current service users and former and current staff have been frank and open in regard to their experiences. Without this openness it would not have been possible to produce any report.
Hmm. I wonder if the dismissed staff would agree with that?
According to the report’s introduction,
The Brother of Charity Services were saddened and concerned that abuse may have occurred in their services in the past?
Oh, were they now?
Saddened.
Not desolate?
Not remorseful?
Not heartbroken ?
Not GUILTY ?
No.
Saddened, the sad bastards.
And concerned !!
Imagine!
The Brothers of Charity were concerned that abuse may have occurred.
Read that carefully now. The managers of the rapists are concerned that abuse may have occurred.
These pathetic little men can’t even admit at this late stage that their pals were raping disabled children for years, and I have to wonder why. Is it because the Brothers of Charity can’t see anything wrong with sexually abusing children?
May have occurred? Who said this? Oh God, wouldn’t I love to have this mealy-mouthed swine in front of me. I swear to you, I would tear this motherfucker to pieces.
May have occurred? Are you calling these abused people liars, you pathetic child-abusing bastard?
People, be very fucking angry, for this is what preceded modern Ireland, and these people haven’t gone away. They are still there, and the same sexually-disordered little men and women, who cast doubt on the word of the abused, are still strutting in front of you, in positions of power, granted to them by our corrupt government. These people, in their own way, are still raping abused children.
When they dismissed members of staff for co-operating with the investigations, were the saintly Brothers showing the same Christian concern? And when they were moving rapists from one school to another in pursuit of their victims, were the kindly monks equally saddened that it was necessary to sodomise so many disabled children?
Here’s the inquiry team:
Dr. Elizabeth Healy (Chair)
The Chair’s work with the Inquiry ceased in January 2006 for personal reasons.
Ms. Dawn Glynn, Acting Senior Clinical Psychologist
Returned to her substantive post with effect from 28th August 2001.
Ms. Siobhan Burke, Clinical Psychologist
Returned to her substantive post with effect from 25th June, 2001.
Ms. Pat Melody-Dunne, Manager, Residential Centre
Availed of a Career Break with effect from 1st March, 2000.
Ms. Jill Osborne, Social Worker
Resigned from Inquiry Team with effect from 11th May, 1999.
Ms. Ann Wall, Social Worker
Membership agreed to 3lst August, 1999.
Eh, do you notice any gaps here?
Any gaps at all?
Here’s a hint: we’re talking about multiple rapes and violent assault, otherwise known as crime. Do you notice any police involved in the investigation?
No. Neither did I.
Chapter Four tells us :
Child abuse is a highly complex issue, which does not easily lend itself to definitions or measurement.
Sorry: a cleric with his dick up a disabled child’s arse is not a complex issue, in my humble, non-social-worker-trained opinion. That’s a fucking pervert who should be in jail. The end.
The report then goes on to engage in all sorts of definitions of abuse which look to me like they were lifted straight out of Child Abuse for First-Year Sociology Students (Pass Course). It’s becoming clearer why this report took eight years to publish: we didn’t have a bunch of Einsteins looking into these crimes. We had a bunch of fucking social workers.
I’m angry. I’m angry, just reading their insipid prose that masks the reality of the brutal treatment these children received.
Let me give you an example. Let’s look at the euphemism challenging behaviour.
Some people in what they’re pleased to call the caring professions like to use neutral language. Value-free language, such as challenging behaviour.
Let me say this: when children are being raped, neutral language and value-free thinking has no relevance. That’s why the mindset behind the following paragraph has absolutely no place investigating the crimes perpetrated at Kilcornan. This is the tyranny of the bland:
The challenging behaviour of some clients was a big issue in the general management of service users in Kilcornan. Some psychology staff had developed a special interest in this issue and had developed an extensive knowledge base. A Challenging Behaviour Team was established to monitor challenging behaviour and develop strategies for its management. Quite extensive training in challenging behaviour had been provided for staff and a procedure for the management of incidents had been developed. However, some interviewees still did not seem to have a clear understanding of why they had to make written records relating to the management of challenging behaviour in individual cases. The purpose of collecting the data required by the Challenging Behaviour Team seemed not to be fully understood.
Service users. It sounds like something written by the rejects from the Christmas choir.
Did you ever in your entire life read anything as bloodless?
They’re talking about raped children, but they can’t bring themselves to transcend their straitjacket of jargon. They can’t write about raped abused children because that would be unprofessional. Not detached enough.
Service users.
What sad bastards.
This paragraph tells you all you need to know about the failings of the Irish health service. It shows you the drab, unimaginative people who have somehow been handed power in that organisation, and it tells me that there is little hope of progress.
I’m not going to bore you with the rest of their definitions about intellectual disability, their quotes from the WHO and UNESCO or their talk of challenging behaviour. Read it for yourself if you must.
All I’m going to tell you is that the report, unsurprisingly, blames nobody for all the rapes and sexual abuse. Blame is not a permitted word within this mindset. I’m just going to tell you that somebody in the Western Health Board managed to delay the publication of this report – insipid though it might be – for eight years, by means unknown. All I’m going to tell you is that the police stood back from a catalogue of violent rapes and are still doing nothing. All I’m going to say is that the abusers are still in charge of the kids, and the government that gave the abusers €1.2 billion are still in power.
Decide for yourself. You’re an adult.
Lucky you.
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