The God Squad

By Ciaran Byrne – Irish Independent 21st May 2009

Thursday May 21 2009

AS shameful episodes go, this was right up there. A unforgivable shambles saw the victims of institutional abuse quite incredibly humiliated for a final time yesterday.

They had waited 10 years for the Child Abuse Commission to produce a report, costing €61m and cataloguing the sickening, endemic culture of terror they endured.

But instead of getting an open and frank assessment of the findings, those who turned up yesterday were shown the kind of treatment usually meted out by a tinpot security state.

Paddy Doyle, who wrote a searing account of institutional abuse, had criss-crossed Dublin’s city centre in his motorised wheelchair to make it to the Conrad Hotel on time.

On arrival, he found the doors locked. His kind were clearly not welcome. Under no circumstances were the very people who had endured all the suffering to be allowed in.

Apparently petrified of any rowdy scenes, the commission posted flunkies and PR people on all doors. They demanded to see media IDs and when several victims breached the cordon, they called the gardai.

When two officers arrived, John Kelly, of Survivors of Child Abuse, exploded.

Brutalised, sexually abused and for decades the victim of a cover-up, he was now about to be escorted to the hotel’s front door and out into the rain beyond.

Farce

Full of fury, robbed of dignity, he raged against the system. “We represent 4,000 victims. You need to listen to us. We promise to be dignified. This is an absolute farce.”

Though expecting huge national and international attention, the commission had hired what looked to be the tiniest hotel room in Dublin.

Inside, it was soon clear there would be no answers; and definitely no questions. “This is not a press conference,” declared Mr Justice Sean Ryan. So what was it? What was this circus for? The judge read a scripted statement which contained fascinating nuggets such as “volume four ends with two chapters containing conclusions and recommendations”.

He didn’t say what those were and added, as if oblivious to the people outside, that the report was the end of a journey “which was very little when compared with the search for justice by victims”.

After he was done, less than five minutes later, Judge Ryan left the room in silence. The verdict was in.

“At best, a carefully orchestrated photo-opportunity for the commission. At worst, it’s quite a disgusting way to treat people,” said one victim.

He had a point.

“The scars and wounds are still left open,” said Mr Kelly.

Ellen O’Malley Dunlop, chief executive of the Dublin Rape Crisis Centre, shook her head.

“It is nothing less than re-victimisation and an abuse of power… It made me physically ill to see it,” she said.