By Bruce Arnold
Saturday March 06 2010 – Irish Independent.
Tracey Fay’s death has shifted public focus in the continuing and unbroken narrative of child abuse and neglect in Ireland. For the past decade, and before that, we have been able to blame the church. Now the blame has shifted, quite markedly, to the State. Her death, and that of many like her, is the result of the State’s failure to set up and fund a proper care system.
It is an irony that the period during which this new abuse occurred has been a period of intense self-examination over how abuse happened from 1920 to the 1980s, carried out principally by the Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse, and focused on the industrial schools. But with the change of focus we can no longer hide behind blaming the church.
We never could, of course.
It was always the State that was responsible for the care of its children and let them down. But the State was effectively controlled by the church, and successive governments without exception obeyed unquestioningly the clerical direction that covered up chronic, persistent and damaging child abuse. It is a seamless story, as long as the Bible and as terrible in the accounts that come out of it — of human dishonesty, evasion, and the avoidance of truth and basic goodness in helping children.
Tracey Fay died eight years ago. The facts, and the State’s abject failure, would have remained under a confidentiality cover but for the courage and good judgement of Alan Shatter, whose calm and measured performance in the Dail this week was exemplary.
Not for the first time has he shamed the State. He has confronted the absurdities of the HSE,(Health Services Executive) who were trying to stop him on a trumped-up claim about a constitutional right to privacy. And he obliterated the incompetence of Children’s Minister Barry Andrews, whom he rightly describes as lacking both authority and the ability to implement what he says should be done. I do not believe Andrews when he says there was no intent to conceal. I do not believe he knows whether this was an intent or not. His performance indicates, clearly enough for me, that he has been led and directed by others.
The HSE is massively culpable. The services for which it is responsible are in chaos and the catalogue of other deaths, in addition to that of Tracey Fay, were concealed because of the disgraceful circumstance that led to them. Other arguments, about respect for the families’ privacy, are little short of nonsense.
The HSE does not know where it is. This was made unquestionably clear following Judge Yvonne Murphy’s findings in her Dublin diocesan child abuse commission report.
Specifically, this was where the HSE failed to deliver the information the commission sought on child abuse. Astonishingly, the HSE revealed that files covering 114,000 cases were based on the child’s name, had no cross-referencing, had to be searched manually, and were spread over 50 different locations. Equally astonishingly, and rather lamely as well, the commission shrugged its shoulders and gave up on this line of inquiry. Instead, it should have reported the dereliction of the HSE to the Government, and sought further direction as to how to proceed.
Though not directly relevant to diocesan abuse, Tracey Fay’s fate is part of the inchoate system being followed by this vital state service. Do we not have computers? Do we use them selectively, not including abused and unwanted children because they do not matter?
I have often wondered, is it deliberate? The State has tolerated child abuse for the 90 years of its existence. We can’t pretend anymore that it wasn’t known about. Wild and perverse acts of cruelty, sexual perversion and abuse, deprivation of every kind — education, training, clothing, food, healthcare — took place and were then concealed by the Department of Education, by ministers and senior officials, as a statutory act, though without the benefit of statute.
Then there were the personal records. Concealment of them, and obstruction over access, represented a deliberate act of confusion that caused victims of abuse years of frustration and difficulty. Lost documents within the department at times made it look as though a permanently employed arsonist went from place to place to burn or flood storage facilities, and destroy evidence of collusion between the church and State.
In the end, and with total and urbane dishonesty, the State put the blame on the church and pleaded that it did not know what happened during a horrific 90-year period of abuse eventually laid bare by the Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse.
The Murphy report did the same, on a limited scale and in
one area of the country only. This lie, about not knowing, was repeatedly contradicted by reports in the Dail and by periodic legal cases. But governments — all of them — looked the other way.
It has continued to happen. It never stopped and it goes on happening, with nothing proper put in place to stop it. We do not have the records of how bad it is, how widely-spread or pernicious. We do not know what has been done on the ground to stop it, and even whether we know how to deal with all these problems.
The church is less part of the secular equation than it was. It is no longer trusted to play any social role, despite the fact that, clearly, we cannot effectively play such a role without continuing to wreck lives. We cannot even monitor the enormities that go on.
The Tracey Fays of this world are an endemic class of victim, always to be part of us. No serious rescue attempt has been mounted and financed by the State, to its undying shame. It is a shame that stretches back through the State’s history, staining what we lovingly call our “identity”. Ours is the identity of an abuse-ridden society.
The Catholic Church and the Commercial Exploitation of Industrial School Children.
What if the Irish public had known about the Child Exploitation? Well as a matter of fact they did and some even engaged in it, farmers for example, everyone knew about the commercial undertakings by the nuns at Goldenbridge, where one in three Rosary beads produced in the world came from the nuns child labour factory.
The religious orders were not happy with the commercial exploitation, they even robbed 75% of the money given by their partners in crime( The State) to feed, clothe and educate the children.
Irish society was well aware that the children from Industrial Schools had very low levels of education, poor health, low self esteem and few social skills. Few members of Irish Society complained and the few that did were ignored.
The commercial exploitation of Industrial School children was carried out in the whole of Ireland by farmers, industry, hotels, shops, big department stores, etc etc.
The vast profits made by the Industrial Schools went to buy land, buildings, personal luxuries, palaces and all of the other trappings of wealth but then their co-conspirators were the most corrupt, secretive, bureaucratic and bigoted state on earth.
Survivors will only get what the Church State wants them to get, if anything. What is going on at the moment is the full weight of the Church State damage limitations exercise. Cowen is being told what to say and how to say it. The Bishops and CORI are all being schooled in damage limitations. If we do get further redress we would have brought the full weight of public opinion to bear on the Church State. To do this we will all have to contribute to getting legal representation from senior counsel and we have to do it NOW. For what it is worth my 200 Euro’s is in the fund, NOW IT IS YOUR TURN. I have no doubt that Barry Clifford is a man of principle, I am also sure that he will publish a plan of legal action and full financial accounts unlike the rest of the so called leaders.
Christy
Hi Paddy
As you know in 1940 the Roman Catholic Church opened a Paedophile Treatment Centre for Clerics and it was called SERVANTS OF THE PARACLETES.
So every time that a Bishop recommended a cleric to be admitted to one of these centres he was protecting a CHILD RAPIST and as such was committing the most vile criminal act against the Irish People.
The serious sexual abuse of children will continue to happen until such times as the Irish People demand that the politicians act to remove all of the Bishops now in place in Ireland. If these people are not removed from office then it will become more difficult to detect Child Sexual Abuse by the Clergy. If something is not done then I can see another Murphy, another Ryan Report, another McCoy Report cropping up every few years and by cropping up I mean the serious Sexual Abuse of Children by Paedophile Catholic Church Clerics.
Christy
What is going on? Here a lady died due to neglect, on other pages I read of over-reaction. A neighbour enquiring why his god child is taken in care is told to “keep your nose out”…”remember, you also have children”. On a law mailing list I read about people attempting private prosecution against HSE officials. On Amnesty web page I read about a plea of a mother being tortured by HSE social workers and nobody want to help her. Asking my solicitor’s opinion he admits that HSE social workers is seen as immune against prosecution.
I now understand why politicians and Judges will not do anything to rectify the situation. They know that HSE social workers are immune against prosecution or civil action and, if they interfere, their children and grand children will be taken in care.
I am not advocating it, but is there another solution other than terrorist action and systematic elimination of social workers that is dishonest? One method is having their children taken in care ….
When will WE realize, say and accept, that WE are – each one of us except for the Victims themselves – WE are the fibre and fabric of this society, community and Irish People. WE elect our Politicians. WE fill our Churches. WE tolerate this Abuse. Have WE not had the Reports? Irrefutable proof? Have WE not KNOWN? For ten, twenty, thirty, ninety years? Do we not have our very own Fritzl right here IN our homes? The “less-than” Verdict yesterday? The other half of the same story, 18 months ago? Dalkey, right under our nose until an Official Inquest said Yes Yes Yes it was always true!
It is for the Irish people to vote with their feet – take action – protest – speak up – and say STOP. Of course WE can blame the organizations, the august bodies of the State and the Catholic Church, but that hasn’t brought much change. WE have to do that. When the HSE asked Alan Shatter
to “remove” the report from the public domain, it EXPOSED in one single sentence, the Truth in all its irony and contradiction: the HSE claimed that “….it would not be fair for the CHILDREN to hear or read details of the report as they were heading to school, and that it had to “respect and protect the Constitutional” rights of the FAMILY.
The CHILD at the moment has NO RIGHTS. The long battle to change the Constitution culminated recently in the “Proposed Wording for the Amendment”. So, not only, we’re not there yet; not only will the People have to vote and PASS the amendment (and that is no certainty); but close inspection and scrutiny of the said-Proposed Wording, STILL DOES NOT GUARANTEE PROTECTION AND SAFETY OF THE CHILD. How about that? Because the family, the parents (dressed as whoever the Adult-specialized-and-skilled-knowing-best-professionals will be) are still deemed to KNOW WHAT IS BEST FOR THE CHILD.
We are good at pointing the finger – while we sit back and “try to learn” through Reality-TV, watching our precious teenagers been marched to boot-camps in our green hills. It is very far from reality WE try to turn ourselves. Many like to say that there ARE changes; that things ARE happening. Well the place IS ON FIRE. GRAB ALL AVAILABLE EXTINGUISHERS. The PLAN is not what will put the fire out.
That is why March 24th is about THE ENTIRE COUNTRY.
Come and assemble from ALL CORNERS of Ireland. Come in your tractors and your trucks. Fill every bus and train. Put up your hands and say STOP. Bring your children with you: it is about THEM now – just as it was about the Victims THEN, who paid the price of our tolerance with THEIR LIVES.
Barry, you write well: would you send something to all the newspapers, the press, the media, to rally the Nation ! It might go like this:
“…..COMING TOGETHER
It feels good to be among you to day….”
Raymond
One for All – All for One
“destroy evidence of collusion between the church and State.”
As always, Bruce is spot on.
Yes, there are many examples of the state HSE and other agencies destroying evidence which proved negligence and discrimination towards service users- victims of the system.
In fact in 1995 I was told that if I ever DARED to come back looking for these files, I would be told there was a fire, and sure enough in 2009, my request under data protection led to a letter stating there was a fire in 2005 and my files got burned.
Now how would the state agent know about a fire 10 years in advance???
I am sure there are many more people out there who got the same slap in the face in order to try and keep the truth hidden about the real child abusers inside the system, namely HSE.
Several letters to various ministers proved futile because they all used the same bit in law- they cannot intervene in the work of the HSE and family courts, which by the way are run by the Catholic Church- Opus Dei branch.
The catholic cult and the state are bed fellows.
Well done Alan Shatter for speaking up.
“Care is the one place where you can LEGALLY ABUSE CHILDREN AND GET PAID FOR IT”
The words of a young girl on leaving so called care.
Care is corporate care and all about money, just like the church institutions before that.
We are well on the way to Autogenocide.
But as a nation we are so frozen in fear, that we are doing nothing to support the victims, but our silence supports the abusers.